All eight top seeds advanced in the opening round of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference/Sanford Health Tournament on Wednesday night, but no one may have a tougher draw in the quarterfinals than the University of Minnesota Duluth, who takes on the No. 2-ranked team in the country on Sunday night at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
UMD (16-13) knocked off Winona State University on Wednesday night, 67-64 at Romano Gym, to face off against NSIC South Division top seed No. 2 Augustana (S.D.) College on Sunday in the quarterfinals. The Vikings knocked off Bemidji State University 97-79 on their home court on Wednesday night and will have a home city advantage when UMD comes to town Sunday.
FREE THROWS• Senior center
Brett Ervin earned his third career All-NSIC selection on Thursday, capping off a return season at Romano Gym on Wednesday night with 30 points, nine rebounds, and two assists against Winona State. Ervin averaged 18.9 points and shot 46.4 percent on the season. His 41 three-pointers on 39.8 percent far surpasses his career total of 27 threes, proving he can be an offensive threat anywhere on the court.
• Junior wing forward
Brendon Pineda had 11 rebounds at the half, securing a double-double against Winona State with 10 points and 16 boards, giving way to Ervin in the second half. He's one of four members of the Bulldogs averaging 10-plus points this season at 11.0 along with 5.7 rebounds. The other member's of UMD's four-pronged attack, junior guards
Pierre Newton and
Taylor Lavery, are averaging 13.4 and 10.0 ppg this season. Newton's 6.1 rebounds per outing lead the Bulldogs.
• UMD shot 46.6 percent, putting together a strong offensive effort in their first outing against Augustana earlier this season on Jan. 17. Ervin scored 20 points, Pineda 11, and Lavery grabbed a team-high six rebounds. The Bulldogs struggled to draw fouls compared to the Vikings, taking just 11 trips to the line compared to 27 for Augie.
• UMD finished the regular season 1-3 against ranked opponents, knocking off then-No. 14 MSU-Moorhead on Dec. 13, 2014 earlier this season but fell to the Dragons in the rematch, as well as Augustana, and Minnesota State University Mankato in the Bulldogs' only regular season meetings against the two NSIC South foes.
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• No. 2
Augustana (27-2) had six players reach double digits scoring in Wednesday night's win against Bemidji State for the first time since 2009. The Vikings lost just their second game of the year in the regular season finale against that same Winona State team, 75-72 on the road. Augie had previously won 19 in a row.
• The Vikings knocked off UMD 95-69 in Duluth in their lone meeting of the season. Junior center Daniel Jensen, the NSIC Co-Player of the Year scored 29 points and grabbed 11 rebounds against the Bulldogs. NSIC Defensive Player of the Year Casey Schilling had 21 points, five rebounds, and four blocks against UMD, while the conference Freshman of the Year Jordan Spencer was held quiet with just seven points, but dropped six assists against the Bulldogs.
• Sophomore guard Tanner Odegaard hit 4-of-5 three-pointers to add 12 points off the bench against UMD. He averaged just 3.4 points per game during the season. Junior forward Alex Richter, Augie's fourth representative on the All-NSIC Teams, had 18 points - one of three Vikings to hit a trio of three-pointers (Jansen) - against UMD.
The Bulldogs and Vikings will take the court at the Sanford Pentagon at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, with the winner advancing to the semifinals on Monday against the winner of third-seeded Concordia University, St. Paul against second-seeded Northern State University on the other side of the bracket.
