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."
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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.
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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.
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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.
