MOORHEAD, Minn. -- MSU Moorhead men's basketball dropped a physical matchup with Minnesota Duluth on Saturday evening. The Bulldogs used a strong second half to beat the Dragons, 71-56. 

Inside The Game

• A hotly contested first half unfolded as the Bulldogs would take a quick four-point lead within the first four minutes of action. 
• The Dragons would rally back thanks to a pair of threes from Shaun Wysocki, putting MSUM up by two points (13-11). 
• Both teams would trade leads on the scoreboard before the Dragons put together a 6-0 run with baskets from Wysocki, Tysen Gerads and Logan Kinsey.
• A three-pointer from Carson Johnson would give the Dragons a three-point lead with five minutes to play. 
• Minnesota Duluth would respond with a 4-0 run to lead by two points with under 10 seconds to play. 
• Johnson would rush the length of the floor to score before the buzzer, evening the count at 35 points. 
• Wysocki led MSUM with 10 points while Johnson added eight. 
• While UMD would lead by five points early in the second half, MSUM would work back towards a tie at 42 points with over 16 minutes to play. 
• Minnesota Duluth would put together a 10-0 run from there to lead, 52-42. Sam Hastreiter would break the Dragon dry spell with a three-pointer. 
• MSUM would come as close as four points after Hastreiter buried three free throws with just over 10 minutes to play. 
• The Bulldogs would fire back with an 8-0 run to build the lead back to 12 points (62-50) with seven minutes to go. 
• The Dragons could not muster up the offense to come back in the late stages as UMD won, 71-56. 
• Wysocki led the Dragons with 14 points while Jacob Jennissen added in 13 points. 
• The Bulldogs shot an impressive 52.7 percent from the field for the game, including a 60 percent mark in the second half. 
• MSUM finished the game with a 38.9 percent clip (30.7 percent in the second half) and shot just six of 21 from long range for the contest. 

Top Dragons

• Shaun Wysocki: 14 points, three rebounds, two assists
• Jacob Jennissen: 13 points, seven rebounds
• Sam Hastreiter: 10 points, six rebounds

Steve d'Eustachio's Stat of the Game

This weekend's losses mark the first time the Dragons have lost their first two NSIC games after the holiday break since falling 87-62 at home to Minot St. on Jan 5, 2018, and 77-65 the next day to the University of Mary.

Up Next

MSUM (10-4, 5-3 NSIC) returns to the road next weekend for games against Southwest Minnesota State and Sioux Falls. The Dragons open the back-to-back against the Mustangs on Friday at 7:30 p.m.