MOORHEAD, Minn. – The Minnesota State University Moorhead men's basketball team built a 22-point halftime lead on its way to a 77-63 win over Minnesota Crookston in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action Sunday at Nemzek Fieldhouse in Moorhead.
 
MSUM has won three in a row and is now 14-11 overall and 9-7 in the NSIC. UMC fell to 8-17 overall and 5-14 in the league.
 
Junior guard Lorenzo McGhee had 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting to lead MSUM. Junior guard Bryce Irsfeld had 14 points while junior guard Gavin Baumgartner had 12. McGhee led with nine rebounds while Baumgartner led with threel;,k assists. Freshman guard Jacob Beening had four steals.
 
MSUM shot 45.3 percent (29-of-64) compared to 43.3 percent (26-of-60) for the Golden Eagles. The rebounds were tied at 37.
 
MSUM opened the game on a 10-0 run, which included two threes from Baumgartner, and led the entire game after that.
 
UMC was within 24-17 midway through the first half before the Dragons responded with a 16-1 run over the next minutes to build a 40-18 lead, their largest of the night.
 
Six different Dragons scored during that run, led by senior forward Gatdoar Kueth with four.
 
MSUM shot 50 percent (16-of-32) overall and 50 percent (8-of-16) from three in the opening 20 minutes. McGhee had 15 first-half points for MSUM on 6-of-8 shooting. Baumgartner added nine.
 
UMC cut into gap in the second half, and moved within 64-55 with 7:51 left after a Ron Kirk basket. The Dragons responded with a 9-0 run, keyed by four points from junior forward Jaden Stanley-Williams, to put the game away at 73-55 with 4:41 left.
 
Kueth added seven points, four rebounds and four blocks for the Dragons.
 
MSUM hosts UMary on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in its final home game of the regular season.
 
Steve d'Eustachio Stat of the Game
Today's game is the third regular season game played on a Sunday in the same season for the first time since the Dragons:

• beat Western Washington 74-71 in Anaheim on Nov. 1, 2015
• nudged Crossroads 126-47 at home on Dec. 20, 2015
• won 93-72 at Winona St. on Jan. 3, 2016

The other two Sunday games this season were a Halloween Day 81-71 triumph over Colorado Mesa in Canyon, Tex. and the heartbreaking 83-80 double OT loss at Northern St. six weeks ago today.