The University of Minnesota Duluth was unable to surpass the hot shooting performance of the University of Wisconsin-Parkside Monday evening, falling by an 85-76 score.

"We hung in there, under five minute media timeout and we're down five, it was a ballgame. Credit to Parkside, they have a far more experienced team and made some plays," head coach Matt Bowen commented. "I thought we gave them opportunities to build a cushion and that just can't happen."

The Rangers knocked down 30 of 53 from the field for a 56.6 percentage, the highest of a UMD opponent this season. The Bulldogs and UWP converted at a 40 percent clip from three-point range, with UMD knocking down eight of 20 along with the Rangers' six of 15.

The game may have been decided by turnovers, as UMD turned it over 14 times, leading to 21 Ranger points. Wisconsin-Parkside also did the job on the fast break, outscoring the Bulldogs 15-0 in that department.

UMD was led in scoring by freshman forward Trenton Krueger, who shot 4-9 from the floor for a career-high 16 points while adding eight rebounds. Sophomore forward Sean Burns scored 12 points and grabbed seven rebounds. The Bulldogs were able to limit the scoring of UWP's top offensive weapon Alexander Brown to just 3, who averaged 16.2 points per game prior to Monday, but Kendale McCullum picked up the pace by netting 25 of his own.

After Wisconsin-Parkside took a 10 point lead to halftime and extended it to as much as 16 points with 15 minutes to play, UMD pushed back to cut the lead to six just past the halfway mark of the second half. Despite falling behind 70-57, the Bulldogs pushed back yet again, running off eight straight points to face just a five point deficit with 3:31 to play. UWP, who held the lead for almost 39 minutes of the game, would not allow UMD any closer, eventually taking an 85-76 road victory.

The Bulldogs will be off for holiday break before returning to host the University of Mary on Dec. 30 at Romano Gymnasium.