When people refer to the big three in a basketball context as of late, it's usually directed at any number of certain NBA superstar triumvirates assembled in Miami, Boston or New York.
Here in Duluth, a different trio of roundball heroes comes to mind when the words “big three” are uttered.
Ryan Rasmussen, Jake Hottenstine and Brett Ervin combined for 61 points and were three of five members of the University of Minnesota Duluth men's basketball team (10-4, 7-3 NSIC) to notch double-figures in a 96-81 victory over visiting Concordia-St. Paul (6-8, 3-7 NSIC) tonight (Jan. 13).
The Bulldogs also enjoyed a perfect night from the charity stripe (18-18) marking only the second time in three years that UMD has not misfired from there.
“I've always had the contention that the three biggest battles we fight every game are outrebounding our opponent, getting more free throws than our opponent and having fewer turnovers than our opponent,” said head coach Gary Holquist. “We won those three battles tonight and as a result we won the game.”
Welcomed back to Romano Gymnasium by a crowd of nearly 1,400 UMD faithful, the Bulldogs had to contend with a hot-shooting Golden Bears to begin the game. Concordia jumped out to a quick five-point advantage before UMD responded with a 6-0 run culminating with a Hottenstine jam in traffic to take their first lead of the night.
While the Bulldogs usually don't take too long to heat up from beyond the arc, tonight was a different story as UMD clanged its first six attempts from downtown before Riley Walker swished the only UMD trey of the half to give the Bulldogs a 29-23 in the last quarter of the first stanza.
Fortunately, reigning NSIC Freshman of the Year Ervin was on hand to make sure the Bulldogs weren't living and dying by the three-pointer in the first half. The 6-7 Eden Prairie, Minn., native knocked in 10 points in the opening frame matching Hottenstine for the team lead at the half.
After Hottenstine knocked down both of his free throw attempts to give the Bulldogs an eight point lead, the Golden Bears charged back to tie the game at 37 heading into the mid-game strategy session thanks to a pair of deep triples from Peter Olafeso.
Although the Golden Bears seemed intent on minimizing the damage wrought by Ervin in the paint, the sophomore drained a layup to open the scoring in the second half. After being a non-factor from an offensive standpoint for much of the first half, the sharp-shooting Rasmussen got himself going with a pair of triples to account for the next six points for UMD.
After trading baskets and maintaining at least a two-point lead in the opening four minutes of the half, the Bulldogs broke the game open with a 20-3 run that spanned five minutes.
Figuring prominently during the big run was backup post star Dan Kornbaum. The sophomore tallied eight of his season-high 12 points during the spurt, culminating with two-handed slam off a pretty pass from Hottenstine that forced an irate Concordia-St. Paul coaching staff to call a timeout.
“Dan did a great job for us tonight,” stated Holquist. “Brett logs a lot of minutes but Korn has to continually help us in that position and he really did an excellent job.”
Ten of the 20 points scored by the Bulldogs were poured in by bench players.
Armed with one of their largest leads of the season, the Bulldogs couldn't quite coast to victory in the final nine minutes of the game. The Golden Bears whittled the UMD lead down to nine points after a downtown make from Cole Olstad before Rasmussen and Hottenstine teamed up for the next six UMD points, culminating with a backbreaking mid-range jumper from UMD's lone senior with a Concordia defender blanketing him.
Reece Zoelle scored his ninth and tenth points of the night with a pair of free-throws down the stretch that accounted for the final margin of 15 points.
Ervin netted a game – and season – high 22 points on 9-14 shooting. Rasmussen pumped in 21 that included 19 in the second half while Hottenstine added 18.
Kenny Olafeso recorded a team-high 21 for the Golden Bears.
UMD will have little time to bask in its latest victory. A huge test looms as No. 21 St. Cloud State rolls into Duluth tomorrow (Sat., Jan. 14).
“More than any team we've played so far this year, St. Cloud will be the toughest team we go against in terms of their level of playing hard and playing together,” said Holquist.
The Bulldogs will look to knock off their second top-25 ranked team in one week as the dogfight between the Huskies and Bulldogs commences at 6 p.m.
