ABERDEEN, S.D. – Minnesota State Moorhead men's basketball sealed a Dragon sweep in the NSIC Tournament First Round over Northern State. The Dragons leaned on their defense to defeat the Wolves, 68-64.
Moorhead would own the momentum to open the contest, jumping out on an 8-0 run to start.
Isa El-Amin would score before
Eddie Beeninga cashed a pair of three-pointers, forcing a Northern State timeout. El-Amin would strike from deep not long after to keep the Dragons in front, 13-7. At the midway point of the half, MSUM led 19-16 after four straight points from
Rodrick Payne.
The Wolves would use a 5-0 burst to create their first lead, 23-21. MSUM would keep within two points with less than five minutes to play in the half after a nifty spin move from
Kabine Kaba. A long ball from El-Amin would get the Dragons the lead with under three minutes to go. It was the Dragon defense that would carry the latter stages of the first half, holding the Wolves scoreless for the final two minutes of action.
At halftime, Moorhead led 34-31 thanks to 10 points from El-Amin and eight from Beeninga. MSUM limited the Wolves to just three of 18 shooting from three-point range through 20 minutes. Moorhead also held a plus-four advantage on the glass in the half.
MSUM would continue to hold the scoreboard into the second half as
Sam Hondl nailed a floater to make the count 42-38. Back-to-back triples from Payne and Hondl extended Moorhead's lead to five points near the 12-minute mark of the half. At the midway point of the period, MSUM led 52-48.
From there, the Dragons would hit on a run to extend their lead to 10 points (58-48). Northern State would not concede, however, tying the score at 62 points with three to play. With the score tied at 64 points and two minutes to play, it was the freshman Hondl who drilled the go-ahead basket. Hondl glided into the lane, converting on a floater to put Moorhead up two.
The Dragon defense would secure the game from there, limiting the Wolves without a basket in the final 120 seconds. Beeninga would ice the game at the charity stripe, draining a pair with eight seconds remaining. Moorhead would clinch a 68-64 victory behind 20 points from El-Amin. Beeninga was exceptional on both ends of the floor as well, finishing with 12 points. Payne scored 11 while
Sam Hastreiter pulled down 11 rebounds.
Top Dragons
Steve d'Eustachio's Stat of the Game
Tonight was the first time in the 27-year history of the NSIC Tournament that the visiting women and men both won on the road in the first round at the same road venue. The only other schools that saw their women and men win on the same night on the road in the first round were:
- 2009 St. Cloud St. (women won at MSU Moorhead; men won at Augustana)
- 2019 Bemidji St. (women won at Concordia St. Paul; men won at MSU Mankato)
- 2022 U-Mary (women won at U-Sioux Falls; men won at Winona St.)
Up Next
MSUM (14-15) heads to the Sanford Pentagon next for a meeting with second-seeded Augustana. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. on Saturday.
