The University of Minnesota Duluth returns from a two-week holiday hiatus to take on a pair of Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference foes in Concordia University, St. Paul and No. 14 Minnesota State University this weekend.
UMD (5-5, 3-3 NSIC) maintained its home court advantage and earned itself an upset win over St. Cloud State, proving the Bulldogs have plenty of bite even with a pair of sidelined stars. UMD was up big early, holding a 43-30 halftime lead, and held on against the surging Huskies in the game's closing seconds.
Junior guard
Reece Zoelle led all scorers with 22 points while also hauling in seven rebounds, grabbing one steal, and adding an assist. Zoelle's key contribution came on the defensive end in the game's closing seconds. Up three, Zoelle fouled SCSU's Jordan Poydras to put him on the line for two rather than allowing a buzzer-beating three-point shot to secure the victory for UMD.
Freshman forward
Lane Olson came off the bench with eight points and a game-high nine boards. Seniors
Peter Crawford and
Jordan Reetz, along with freshman
Justin Byrd, all hit double digits scoring as UMD shot 49.0 percent for the game.
The Bulldogs ride a three-game winning streak into the weekend.
About the Golden Bears
Concordia-St. Paul (3-7, 0-6 NSIC) has stumbled out of the blocks in the NSIC, falling in six in a row and seven of eight overall. Minnesota State knocked off CU last time out, downing the Golden Bears 67-58. Junior Terez VanPelt is second in the NSIC with an 18.3 PPG average, with junior Travon Mitchell not far behind at 13.6 per outing. Sophomore Mike Yahnke lands in the top twelve among league players at 6.2 per contest. Despite the rough record, Concordia has fallen by just a basket twice in their last five and have proven tough on the defensive end, holding opponents under 80 points in all but three games this season.
UMD is 13-9 all-time against the Golden Bears but fell the last season, 73-76 in overtime on Jan 18, 2013. Van Pelt led the way for CU with 18 points against the Bulldogs.
About the Mavericks
No. 14 Minnesota State (11-2, 5-1 NSIC) have won three straight and 10 of 11 overall, and moved up two spots in this week's National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Poll. Four Mavericks tallied at least 10 points last time out against Concordia. Junior Zach Monaghan has averaged 13.5 points per game to lead the way for MSU, but Junior Assem Marei and senior Gage Wooten are right behind him at 13.4 PPG. Marei is fourth in the NSIC with 7.2 boards per outing and Wooten's 65.3 shooting percentage is second in the league. MSU is 6-1 at the Taylor Center and has averaged 89.1 points at home this season.
UMD is 32-41 in the all-time series against the Mavericks, falling 65-73 last season on Jan. 19, 2013.
The Bulldogs and Golden Bears will tip off the season's second half at 8:00 p.m., following the women's contest, with Saturday's match-up set for 6:00 p.m.
