The University of Minnesota Duluth came back from 17 points down at the break, making up ground at the free throw line to take a second-half lead but fell to the University of Mary, 75-71, in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play in Bismarck, North Dakota on Saturday evening.
"We're 10-10. We're used to this," said head coach
Matt Bowen after UMD (10-10, 7-7 NSIC) came back from a 46-29 deficit with 18:44 remaining to lead 55-54 with just seven minutes later, but fell short in completing the comeback as U-Mary outscored the Bulldogs 7-3 down the final 4:07 to claim a home victory. "We had our opportunities, we just didn't capitalize. We played great for 25-30 minutes, but you can't dig that big of a hole on the road. The team will bounce back, and we'll see what we can come up with on the road next week."
HIGHLIGHTS• Senior center
Brett Ervin led all scorers with 30 points as UMD got the entirety of its scoring from the starting line-up. Junior guard
Pierre Newton added 18 points and a team-high nine rebounds. Each scored six at the line, Newton a perfect 6-for-6 in the second half.
• Junior center Jacob Velasco netted 24 points off the bench for U-Mary, including 15 in the first half. He finished the game shooting 10-of-15 including 2-of-4 beyond the arc.
The teams played even through the first ten minutes of the game, tied 17-17 as the Marauders came back from a five-point UMD lead, scoring 11 sraight points and 15 of 17 to pull away from the Bulldogs as they shot 54.5 percent (18-of-33) to take a 42-25 lead to the locker room. UMD, meanwhile, had shot just 34.6 percent (9-of-26) but made 6-of-8 shots from the charity stripe to stay alive.
"We got beat to loose balls, got beat to rebounds, basically spotted them a 17-point cushion at the half. Give the team credit for making a valiant comeback, but we had too many mistakes." U-Mary scored on its first three possesions before UMD opened up a 21-7 run, scoring on 7-of-7 trips to the line and 7-of-8 shots from the floor. The Marauders would again take a five-point lead with Ervin re-tying the game moments later with a three. The Bulldogs fell short in their final chances, while U-Mary made good on its final trips to the line to hold off UMD late.
The Bulldogs shot 17-of-29 (58.6 percent) in the second half, making good on 10-of-12 free throws, but U-Mary didn't cool enough, shooting 42.3 percent after the break, including 4-of-6 from range, to preserve the victory.
UP NEXT
UMD continues on the road next weekend for a pair of interdivisional match-ups against NSIC South foes the University of Sioux Falls and Southwest Minnesota State University.
