The University of Minnesota Duluth put together one of its best full-team efforts of the season, falling just short in an upset bid of No. 11 Minnesota State University Moorhead on Friday night at Romano Gym.

UMD (15-10, 11-8 NSIC) out-shot the top-ranked Dragons, hitting 44.3 percent of its shots on the night but were just 5-of-21 from three-point range. No. 11 MSU Moorhead (24-4, 16-3 NSIC) finished the games hooting 34.5 percent but hit eight three-pointers and scored 29 points at the free throw line (courtesy of a 27-to-15 personal foul disparity in favor of the Dragons), including a 19-of-21 night from the line by 6-foot-9-inch senior forward Isaac Sevlie, who had Bulldogs knocking on him all night.

UMD took an early 4-3 lead thanks to senior guard Taylor Lavery's hot start and still held an edge at 8-6 before Moorhead hit a three-pointer and controlled the pace of play the rest of the first half, leading by a game-high nine points at 34-25 with 5:08 remaining in the first half. Lavery hit his second three-pointer of the half to help the Bulldogs pull back within six headed to the locker room. While Lavyer had 12 points at the break, Sevlie already had 14, but just two from the floor as he hit 12-of-13 free throws in the opening frame.

Coming out of the locker room, the Bulldogs would find themselves in foul trouble early with eight personal fouls called against them at the midway point of the second half. Despite that, UMD had drawn even with Moorhead early in the half and finally retook the lead for just the second time all night with senior forward Brendon Pineda laying-in an and-one to put the Bulldogs up 56-53 on what was just the Dragons' fifth foul of the half, with four straight in favor of UMD. A Lavery three-pointer gave the Bulldogs their largest lead of the game - six - but the fouls against UMD continued to stack up with Moorhead scoring six straight points on free throws to regain the lead.

The Dragons would gain their edge by grabbing 14 offensive boards on the night, netting 20 second-chance points compared to just nine on the second shot for the Bulldogs on 11 offensive rebounds. MSUM grabbed 39 rebounds on the night compared to 35 in favor of UMD. The Bulldogs committed just one more turnover than the Dragons and the two teams were tied with four steals each. Sevlie finished with a game-high 25 points on 3-of-10 shooting with 19 scored at the line. He grabbed a team-high seven rebounds for Moorhead. Lavery led the Bulldogs with 22 points. Senior guards Pierre Newton and Junior Coleman added 16 each for UMD, while Pineda finished with 10 on the night. Newton grabbed a game-high nine rebounds.

The tough-luck loss to the newly-minted NSIC North Division champs comes fortunately on a night when UMD's competition for second place in the North falls as well, with St. Cloud State University knocking off Northern State University down in St. Cloud. The Bulldogs and Wolves will be in direct competition tomorrow afternoon separated by just a game in the race for playoff positioning. Opening tip between UMD and NSU is set for 6:00 p.m. at Romano Gym, following the women's contest.