Basketball - Men's - News

BULLDOGS LET 19-POINT LEAD SLIDE AWAY; TIPPED BY GOLDEN BEARS 74-73

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Being up by 19 points with roughly 17 minutes left on the clock Saturday night, head coach Gary Holquist and the University of Minnesota Duluth men's basketball team looked as if they were going to roll to a crucial Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference road victory at Concordia University-St. Paul.

But within those final 17 minutes, it was all downhill for the Bulldogs.

The always-exciting conference contest saw the Golden Bears fast-paced offense and defensive pressure guide them all the way back to a thrilling 74-73 come-from-behind victory over UMD before 630 fans at the Gangelhoff Center in St. Paul, Minn.

Concordia-St. Paul (11-11 overall; 9-6 NSIC) was single-handily led back with their impressive play of their junior guard Sammy Ricks, who collected three of his game-leading four steals within the last 55 seconds against the Bulldogs (15-10; 9-6), while fellow junior guard Mike Cunningham poured in a career-high 26 points to aid the Golden Bears improbable comeback.

The game started off quickly in favor of UMD, as they racked up 24 of the first 34 points midway through the first half. After that, both teams played relatively even, as the Bulldogs went into the locker rooms with a 43-27 advantage at recess.

After the break, UMD nailed six of the first nine points to increase their lead to 19 with just over 17 minutes on the clock, but it was after then, that the Golden Bears came roaring back, en route to the astonishing come-from-behind conference victory.

The Bulldogs were led by their senior center, John Vaudreuil - UMD's leading scorer - who piled up a team-leading 23 points, while he snagged eight rebounds for the visiting Bulldogs. The captain also handed off three assists, shot an impressive 56 percent (9-for-16) from the field and was perfect from the charity stripe (5-for-5) in the loss.

Fellow big man Brian Sykora also had a nice night on the hardwood for UMD, as the junior forward scored 14 points and grabbed six rebounds, while the captain hit seven of his 12 shots (58.3 percent) from the floor and committed just one turnover in his team-high 32 minutes of action.

Freshman guard Ryan Rasmussen had a hot-hand for the Bulldogs, as he drained a team-leading two of his three shots (67 percent) from behind the arc en route to scoring 12 points, while junior guard Ron White ripped down a team-high 10 rebounds, scored six points and added three assists in the defeat.

After the final whistle, UMD shot a solid 90 percent (9-for-10) from the free-throw line, 47 percent (29-for-62) from the field and 40 percent (6-for-15) from behind the arc, but it was not enough to hold off the Golden Bear's comeback.

The Bulldogs will now travel home, as they are set to clash with a pair of NSIC foes next weekend, when they play host to Minnesota-Crookston (4-18; 2-13) on Friday (Feb. 13) at 8:00 p.m., while they welcome in MSU-Moorhead (7-14; 4-11) the following Saturday (Feb. 14) at 8 o'clock.

Game Stats

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