ST. PAUL, Minn. – Minnesota State Moorhead men's basketball used an electric second half to power past Southwest Minnesota State on Saturday afternoon. The Dragons drilled 14 three-pointers in a 78-68 non-conference victory over the Mustangs at the CSP Thanksgiving Classic.
As is apropos with these programs, a defensive battle would break out to open the contest.
Kabine Kaba would score Moorhead's first four points thanks to three early offensive rebounds. However, both teams would begin the game a combined five of 18 from the floor with the Mustangs leading 6-4. A three-pointer from
Timaris Brown and a bucket from
Dominic Gooden would see the Dragons regain the lead, 9-6.
Midway through the first half,
Isa El-Amin would take command of the game. The true freshman buried a three to put the Dragons up, 12-9. El-Amin would drive and score on a midrange shot on the ensuing possession to keep Moorhead up three points. The Dragon guard would then collect a steal, ultimately leading a fastbreak and assisting on a bucket from
Sam Hastreiter. El-Amin's flurry forced a Mustang timeout with the Dragons leading, 16-11.
MSUM's offense would continue to surge out of the timeout as
Landin Hacker knocked down a three-pointer to post an eight-point Dragon lead. Hastreiter would help stretch the Moorhead lead into double figures, dropping in a long ball to make the count 24-14. With just over four minutes to play in the first half, MSUM led 26-17. Southwest Minnesota State would close the half on a 9-0 run, but Moorhead would lead 29-28 at the break. Hastreiter led the Dragons with seven points followed by six from Brown.
The Dragons would catch fire from deep to open the second half as Gooden and El-Amin opened with back-to-back-to-back long-range shots. Gooden continued to find his rhythm, scoring his ninth point in under four minutes to get Moorhead back in front by six. Moorhead would later strike on seven straight points, sparked by an and-one from
Adam Jenkins. The play from Jenkins came off a hustle play from El-Amin, who saved a ball from out of bounds to Hastreiter, who delivered down low to the post. Hastrieter would bookend the stretch, putting the Dragons up 11 (48-37).
Scoring would slow down near the midway point of the half with the Mustangs cutting the deficit to seven points. Gooden would keep firing to carry the Dragons, netting back-to-back triples to move the lead back into double figures. The Mustangs would answer right back, trimming the Dragon lead to three points with under seven minutes to go. Gooden, Brown and El-Amin would all strike again from deep to push Moorhead back in front by ten points. With just over four minutes to go, MSUM led 69-61 having made eight of 13 three-pointers to that point in the half.
While the Mustangs would come as close as seven points down the stretch, Moorhead would capture the game's energy thanks to their defense.
Rodrick Payne would pace the Dragons on that end with an emphatic rejection on a Mustang dunk attempt. Gooden would unsheathe the dagger shortly after, banking home a triple as the shot clock expired. The Dragons would win 78-68 behind 27 points from Gooden, who scored 25 in the final 20 minutes on 75 percent shooting (8-12). El-Amin (13), Hastreiter (11) and Brown (11) all added double figure scoring efforts. The Dragons made 14 three-pointers (nine in the second half) in 28 attempts in the victory.
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Up Next
MSUM (4-2, 1-0 NSIC) closes play at the CSP Thanksgiving Classic tomorrow evening in a 4 p.m. tilt with host Concordia-St. Paul.
