The University of Minnesota Duluth last knocked off a ranked opponent on Jan. 3, 2016 against Minnesota State University Mankato, who was ranked No. 25 at the time. A span of 104 games have past since the Bulldogs walloped a top-25 club. They accomplished that feat tonight.

UMD won for the third time in 24 years at St. Cloud State University as it dismantled the No. 13 Huskies 91-81 at Halenbeck Hall in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference opener. The Bulldogs made a statement moving to 4-1 overall and it wasn't a fluke either with UMD leading for close to 36 minutes including pulling out to a 15-point lead with under six minutes remaining in the first half.

St. Cloud State (5-2) had the lead down to four late in the first half but the Bulldogs pushed it back up to 10 at the three-minute mark of the second half and up to 14 again with under three left to play. Senior guard Mamadou Ngom punctuated the game with five consecutive points, sparked by a clutch three-pointer to give UMD a 71-60 lead with 3:30 to play. The Huskies went into foul mode from there, forcing the Bulldogs to the line.

The Bulldogs attempted 49 free throws overall and 21 in the final three minutes of play. They made 17 of those 21 shots and 39 for the contest. The 39-for-49 night at the line both set the program mark for most free throw made (36 vs. Minnesota Crookston on Nov. 30, 1998) and most free throw attempts (48 vs. Minnesota Crookston on Nov. 30, 1998) in a single game. 

They held off SCSU, who made mulitple hurry-up contested three pointers. The Huskies actually shot better in that last spurt instead of the other 37 minutes. SCSU put in seven of its 12 tries but was 19-for-52 otherwise and finished shooting 40 percent, a season low for the Huskies. On the other hand, UMD was efficient from the field shooting 54 percent and 43 percent from long distance. 

Junior forward Brandon Myer bestowed another memorable performance. The native of Superior, Wis., tallied 31 points -- one off his career high -- and collected a collegiate high 15 rebounds. Myer was 6-for-11 from the floor including 1-for-3 beyond the arc but most of his damage came at the charity stripe in program record-breaking display. Myer was 18-for-23 from the free-throw line, both single-game program highs. He bested Ryan Rusmussen's 17 made free throws against the same adversary on Feb. 5, 2010 and John Vaudreuil's mark of 22 attempts back on Nov. 7, 2008 versus the University of Montevallo.

Myer was the alpha dog but the supporting class surrounded the lead dog. Six Bulldogs scored at least eight points, and four of those were in double figures. Last season. Luke Harris and Sean Burns were the only other players to hit double figures against the Huskies. Burns had eight while Harris shared a game-high 11 points from off the bench. Junior guard Logan Rohrscheib was perfect on all three shots as he collected 10 points and senior forward Ryan Kaczynski chipped in 10 points as well with meaningful minutes down the stretch.

In addition, junior guard Trevor Entwisle played in his first game since going down with an knee injury that ended his season last year against Minot State. Entwisle played 22 minutes and tallied two points, three rebounds and an assist.

UMD hopes to carry the momentum into next weekend as it contends with Minot State University and the University of Mary.