The University of Minnesota Duluth finished the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference regular season with three straight wins and now will host the first home playoff game at Romano Gymnasium since the 2005-06 North Central Conference season and the first NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament game at Romano Gym since 2003-04 when Winona State University comes to town on Wednesday.

UMD (15-13, 12-10 NSIC/4th-North) finished with its first winning regular season since the 2011-12 campaign while also securing its first winning conference record since 2008-09. The Bulldogs finished the 2014-15 regular season on a three-game winning streak, knocking off U-Mary in a defensive battle 63-60 on Friday night before taking Minot State to overtime, upending the Beavers 83-80 at Romano Gym on Saturday

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• Senior center Brett Ervin has led the UMD offensive attack over the last three, netting 21.3 points per game while grabbing 5.7 rebounds, shooting 46 percent (23-of-50) including 11-of-20 (55 percent) from three-point range. He's added six assists, one block, and two steals for the Bulldogs. He scored 24 points, including 16 in the second half, against U-Mary on Friday night, dropping a trio of three-pointers while going 9-of-16 from the floor. He continued his streak into the first half of Saturday night's game, scoring 11 in the opening frame and finishing with 22 by the end of overtime, making 4-of-7 threes.
• Junior guard Pierre Newton averaged a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds last weekend and is scoring 14.3 ppg and grabbing 7.7 boards in the Bulldogs' past three. Newton had 18 points in UMD's win over Winona State earlier this season, but it was senior guard Reece Zoelle who added 19 off the bench to lift the Bulldogs past the Warriors.
• UMD finished the 2014-15 season with the 16th-toughest strength of schedule in the nation and the hardest in the NSIC, according to the Massey Ratings (available here).

SCOUTING THE WARRIORS (Wednesday, Feb. 25, 7:00 p.m.) - Live Video/Stats
• Winona State (14-12, 11-11 NSIC/5th-South) has won three of four since falling to the Bulldogs 76-63 on Feb. 7 earlier this month at Romano Gym. UMD holds a 62-34 all-time edge against the Warriors. The Bulldogs are 4-0 all-time against WSU, but the teams haven't met since the 1991-92 campaign.
• Sophomore guard Isaiah Gray scored 10 points about UMD and currently leads the Warriors, netting 15.4 ppg on the season which sits tenth-best in the NSIC. Junior forward Mark Blacklock led the way with 18 points against the Bulldogs, hitting 6-of-8 from the floor including 3-of-4 on threes. He's currently tied with UMD's Ervin, 16th in the NSIC with 5.3 boards per contest but had just three against the Bulldogs.
• In addition to hits scoring acumen, Gray is tied for 14th in the NSIC with 2.9 assists and fifth with 1.5 steals per game. Winona State ranks no. 11 in the conference in scoring offense but plays lock down defense, fourth-best in the NSIC allowing just 70.9 points per game. They match up well with UMD whose 69.3 ppg are no. 14 but has the third-best scoring defense at 70.6 per game.

The Bulldogs and Warriors will take the Romano Gym court at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday night, with the winner advancing to the Sanford Pentagon on Sunday for a match-up against South Division top seed Augustana or North Division eighth seed Bemidji State.