Men's Basketball Report: January 25
South Dakota 68, Minnesota Duluth 62
Duluth, Minn. - South Dakota, which led by as much as 21 points, held on for a 68-62 victory over Minnesota Duluth in front of 864 in Romano Gymnasium.
USD's Dylan Grimsley recorded his fourth double-double of the season by setting game-highs with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Eric Hall added 15 points, including making 4-of-8 from beyond the arc, and six rebounds, while Dustin Little added 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting and five rebounds.
Bryan Foss and John Vaudreiul tied for the Bulldog scoring lead with 12 points apiece, with Vaudreiul grabbing a team-best seven rebounds and Foss right behind with six.
The Coyote defense was once again stingy as they held UMD to just 30.3% shooting from the floor (20-of-66) while connecting on 54.5% of their own shots (24-of-44). South Dakota won the game despite being out-rebounding by a 40-32 margin. However, five blocked shots and 10 steals helped lead the Coyotes to the win.
USD jumped out to a quick 7-2 lead with a pair of Cain baskets sandwiched around a Hall three-pointer. The Coyote lead grew to 11 points by the media timeout at the 9:41 mark as Grimsley single-handedly went on a tear punctuated by a fast break slam dunk after he stole the ball at mid-court, moving the score to 21-10.
South Dakota's 10-0 run that wrapped around the media time saw its advantage improve to 27-10 with 7:49 left on the clock before the half. By that point, Grimsley already had 13 points to his credit. The Bulldogs closed to within 12 points with three minutes left, but the Coyotes were able to score six of the final nine points to go into the break with a 38-23 halftime lead.
The second half started out much the same as the first ended as USD raced out of the gate with three straight baskets that moved the score to 44-23 and prompted a Minnesota Duluth timeout just three minutes into play.
UMD took advantage of a foul on a three-point attempt at the 1:22 mark, and after all three free throw attempts were successful, the scoreboard read 64-60 in favor of the Coyotes. Mitch Begeman showed considerable poise when he went to the charity stripe on the other end and hit both parts of a one-and-one, but the Bulldogs responded with a tip-in on their next possession, and the score stood at 66-62 with 48.4 left on the clock.
Forced to foul, Minnesota Duluth sent Little to the line, and he made the front end of the bonus to give USD a five-point lead. The Bulldogs missed a three-point attempt on their next possession, and Little marched back to the line for another one-and-one opportunity. His first attempt bounced off the rim, giving UMD a slim chance for the rally, but once again, the host squad was unable to score and after a Grimsley free throw, the Coyotes escaped Romano Gymnasium with the 68-62 victory.
Minnesota State 71, North Dakota 65
Mankato, Minn. -- Minnesota State rallied from a 13-point second half deficit in front 2,537 fans in the Taylor Center to earn a 71-65 victory over North Dakota .
The Mavericks, which trailed at halftime for the first time all season, 35-31, found themselves trailing 54-41 with 12:14 remaining before embarking on a 30-11 run to close the contest.
The run was sparked by a pair of three-point baskets from Tony Thomason and Jake Morrow to cut the deficit to three with 8:02 remaining. Both teams traded baskets until MSU iced the game in with four free throws in the final minute.
Luke Anderson led all scorers with 23 points on 7-of-12 shooting - including 2-of-4 from beyond the arch. Anderson also connected on all seven of his free throw attempts.
Atila Santos added 16 points and five rebounds. Morrow and Thomason rounded out the scoring with 14 and 11 respectively.
Minnesota State shot 46 percent for the game from the floor despite shooting chilly 5-of-18 from beyond the arch. UND was just as cold from outside as they hit just 3-of-14 (21.4%).
On the glass, MSU was led by Paris Kyles who had a game-high eight rebounds, a mark that tied both his season and career-high. MSU outrebounded UND 35-34.
MSU shot 83.3% from the charity stripe, connecting on 20-of-24 opportunities. North Dakota made six of their nine attempts.
Mark Kruse led UND with 17 points.
Nebraska-Omaha 64, Augustana 62
Omaha, Neb. -- Nebraska-Omaha avenged its season-opening loss to Augustana, winning a tightly-contested battle, 64-62, at Sapp Fieldhouse.
Zac Robinson had a huge first half for UNO, hitting four 3-pointers, going on to score a team-leading 20 points. Michael Jenkins followed with 19, adding seven assists and two clutch free throws in the final seconds which proved to be the deciding factor.
The win improves the Mavericks to 11-8, 2-3 in NCC play. The Vikings, who were led by Matt Paulson with 17 points, fall to 15-6, 2-4.
Robinson opened the game with three of his triples in the first three and a half minutes of the game to stake the Mavs to an early 11-8 lead. The teams exchanged baskets in a fast-paced first half, but after a Tom Ver Douw layup tied the game at 17-17 midway through the half, UNO scored nine straight points, highlighted by Robinson's fourth 3-pointer and a strong dunk from Jerry Bennett. The Mavericks held a 35-30 lead at halftime.
The second half was marked by physical play, and again, the teams battled nip-and-tuck throughout. The score stood tied seven times in the second half. A pair of free throws by Eric Krogman gave the Vikings a one-point lead, 48-47, with 12:11 to play. Robinson's only 2-pointer of the game immediately gave the advantage back to UNO, and it never fell behind again.
The Mavericks' biggest lead of the second half
was seven points, 58-51, with 6:01 to play on a jumper by Denny
Johnston. A free throw from Ian Thomas and two 3-pointers from
Marques Blank tied the score again with 1:39 left. But Jenkins hit
four free throws in the final moments, including two with four
seconds left, to seal the win.