Men's Basketball

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Men's Basketball Report: February 24
Minnesota Duluth 91, North Dakota 67

Duluth, Minn. -- Minnesota Duluth guard Jordan Nuness scored a game-high 24 points to lead the Bulldogs to a 91-67 win over the Fighting Sioux at Romano Gymnasium.

Nuness was deadly-accurate from the outside, nailing seven of eight three-point attempts. The Bulldogs as a team shot 58 percent from the field and 53 percent from three-point range.

Nuness was one of four Bulldogs who reached double figures. John Vaudreil had 19 points, Bryan Foss had 17 and Matt Rawley added 10.

The Bulldogs put the game away in the final stages of the second half with an 11-2 run that turned a 28-24 score into a 39-26 margin. Then Foss hit a three-pointer from the corner with five seconds left and was fouled. He hit the free throw to give the Bulldogs a 13-point lead at 43-30 at the half.

Ervin Youmans led the Sioux with 18 points, going 8-for-10 from the field. Mark Kruse had 14 points and Emmanuel Little added 10.

Minnesota State 80, Nebraska-Omaha 58

Mankato, Minn. -- Minnesota State closed out the 2006-07 regular season with a 80-58 victory over Nebraska-Omaha in front of 2,027 fans in the Taylor Center .

The win pushed Minnesota State's record in the facility to 14-0 on the season, marking the first time that the squad has won all of its home games since it began tracking the stat in the 1982-83.

It was the 24th victory of the season, tying the program's high-water mark set by the 2004-05 and 2005-06 teams.

Luke Anderson led Minnesota State in scoring with a game-high 26 on 9-of-16 shooting. Anderson, who now has 519 points on the season, is just the second player in school history to score 500 or more points in three consecutive seasons, joining Curt Clark (1976-79) as the only other Maverick to accomplish the feat.

Nebraska-Omaha opened the game pushing a 10-2 advantage in the games first four and a half minutes. MSU used a 10-2 run to knot the game at 12 and never look back.

Minnesota State quickly pushed its lead to double digits en route to earning a 37-25 advantage at the break.

Nebraska-Omaha cut the Maverick deficit to 13 at 66-53 before MSU finished the game on a 12-5 run.

Tony Thomason added 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting, including 3-of-4 from beyond the three-point line. Jake Morrow also added double-figures in the scoring column with 16 points. Morrow also tied his career and season-high with nine rebounds.

Minnesota State finished the game shooting 52.5 percent from the floor, including 42.9 percent from downtown. MSU also owned a 38-26 advantage on the glass

South Dakota 90, St. Cloud State 83 (OT)

St. Cloud, Minn. -- South Dakota earned a share of the NCC championship with a 90-83 overtime victory over St. Cloud State in the regular season finale.

This is the 12th NCC championship in South Dakota history, and the first for the program since the 2000-01 team brought home the crown. This is also the sixth time that head coach Dave Boots has led the Coyotes to the NCC title during his tenure at the school.

Dustin Little led the Coyotes with a season-high 24 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field and 10-of-15 from the line. Little also equaled his season-best effort with nine rebounds while dishing out three assists in 42 minutes of action. In overtime alone, Little scored eight points while making six-of-eight free throw opportunities.

Two USD players posted double-doubles on the game, with Steve Smith recording his second in the past three games with 16 points and a season-high 11 rebounds. Tyler Cain tied with Smith for the team-lead in rebounds with 11 while recording 10 points of five-of-six shooting.

Eric Hall added 19 points for South Dakota, helped by an 8-of-14 shooting performance. Jesse Becker came off the bench to dish out a team-high five assists and score 14 points, helped by his 9-of-11 effort at the free throw line. Becker made five-of-six chances at the charity stripe in the extra session alone.

The Huskies were led by David Dreas' 25 points. Brett Carmichael added 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting, with Matt Schneck added 17 points and 15 rebounds.

South Dakota shot 50.0% from the field over the course of the game, including making four-of-five shots in overtime. SCSU meanwhile was limited to a 41.4% success rate from the floor, and just three-of-nine in overtime. The Coyotes enjoyed a healthy 46-39 advantage on the glass, and recorded four blocked shots to just one by St. Cloud State.