SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Minnesota State University Moorhead men's basketball team erased a four-point halftime deficit with a big second half in a 92-77 win over St. Cloud State in the quarterfinals of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference/Sanford Health Tournament in Sioux Falls, S.D.
Once again the bench delivered big for the Dragons (17-11), who have won six in a row. MSUM's bench contributed 43 points in the victory. St. Cloud State ended the season at 11-18. The Dragons swept all three meetings with SCSU in 2021-22.
The Dragons now advance to face NSIC regular season champion Augustana at 1:30 p.m. on Monday in the tournament semifinals.
Five Dragons scored in double figures, led by freshman guard
Gabe Myren with a career-high 20 points. Junior forward
Jaden Stanley-Williams and junior guard
Trever Kaiser each collected 12 while senior forward
Gatdoar Kueth added 11. Freshman guard Jacob Beening colleted 10 points.
Junior guard
Gavin Baumgartner had a carer-high nine assists while Myren led with four steals. Junior guard
Lorenzo McGhee had nine points and eight rebounds.
MSUM was down 41-37 at halftime. The game was tied at 51-51 with 13:32 left before MSUM seized the momentum for good with a 15-0 run, keyed by seven points from Kaiser and five from Beeninga. That surge put MSUM up 66-51, and the Dragon lead never dropped out of double digits the rest of the way.
Kueth had 11 second-half points while Myren had nine. McGhee, Beeninga and Kaiser had seven each.
MSUM shot 18-of-31 from the floor in the second half, compared to 13-of-29 for St. Cloud State.
MSUM's meeting with Augustana will be the first between the two teams this season. The first meeting, scheduled for January, was cancelled because of Covid-19 protocols.
