The University of Minnesota Duluth sealed its first Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference victory of the season after a 63-58 win over the University of Mary on Saturday night. Neither team held a lead more than eight points but the Bulldogs were seemingly in control throughout most of the contest. The UMD defense was superb tonight as they allowed the Marauders to score only 58 points, which was the season low given up by the Bulldogs. UMD moved to 4-7 overall and 1-5 in the NSIC while U-Mary dropped to 2-9 and 0-7 in the conference. 

With the win, UMD clinched its first NSIC victory which snapped a 19-game conference drought. It was also the first road NSIC win in 12 tries dating back to Jan. 6, 2017 when it toasted the University of Minnesota Crookston 82-58. The Bulldogs have already have tripled the amount of road wins from a season ago. UMD is now 3-1 in games decided by five points or less. 

The Bulldogs gained the lead with 4:09 left on a contested jumper by sophomore forward Brandon Myer to push UMD ahead 55-53. Myer, the reigning Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference North Division Player of the Week, knocked down a pair of free throws on the next possession to extend the lead to four. Sophomore guard Logan Rohrscheib nailed a jumper after fantastic ball movement with the dish from sophomore Trevor Entwisle. The Neenah, Wis., native guard then found sophomore Luke Harris in-between defenders for an easy layup to stack the lead up to eight with just over 2:30 to play. That 8-0 run was enough to withstand the last Marauder effort as Myer delivered the dagger with his game-clinching free throws with 2.5 seconds left. 

Myer finished the contest with a game-high 20 points. Myer now has at least 20 points in the last four games. Keith Hunter for U-Mary ended with a team-high 17 points. Entwisle had 11 points including a pair of threes late in the second half to help the Bulldogs draw even. Entwisle also dished out five assists, one short of tying his career high, and kept his string of three or more assists in a game alive now at six straight. 

Tonight also sparked the return of junior forward Sean Burns who missed the last two games due to a minor injury. Burns compiled four points, five rebounds and a key second-half steal in his return. Senior forward Jake Wilson led all bench players with six points on 2-of-5 shooting. 

Both teams were even shooting the ball with no one team gaining a clear upper hand from the floor or the charity stripe. UMD hit 41 percent of its shots while U-Mary shot 45 percent overall. The Marauders did connect on 52 percent in the second half but committed 11 turnovers for the game which UMD turned into 15 points. The Bulldogs also won the advantage in second chance points.

UMD will hope to win its third straight game for the first time since the 2015-16 season when it rallied off six in-a-row tomorrow against Minot State University. Tip off of that NSIC action will begin at 4:00 p.m.