The University of Minnesota Duluth Men's basketball team battled back from a 22-pont deficit to beat the University of Minnesota Crookston 90-84 in overtime. The Bulldogs win their 20th game on the season, improving to 20-7 overall and going 15-6 in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. UMC falls to 11-16 on the year, going 7-14 in the NSIC.
 
The Bulldogs finished the evening shooting 45.7% (32-70) from the field, grabbing 40 rebounds with 11 steals. The Golden Eagles finished shooting 46.5% (33-71) from the floor, grabbing 42 rebounds and six steals.
 
The Golden Eagles would win the tip-off, but the Bulldogs would strike first off of a layup by senior forward Brandon Myer. UMC would follow with a basket from beyond the arc to take the lead. The Golden Eagles would drain another 3-pointer to follow, along with a layup to take a six point 8-2 lead in the opening three minutes. They would score another layup to take an 11-2 lead forcing UMD to take a 30 second timeout. Out of the timeout, the Golden Eagles would extend their lead to 11 with a quick layup, but senior forward Alex Illikainen would get the Bulldogs back on the board with a layup. UMD would trail heading into the first media timeout 16-7.­­­ Out the timeout, UMC would score a quick layup. Myer would score a layup to respond. The Golden Eagles found another layup to take a 12 point lead with 12 minutes left in the half. Heading into the second media timeout, the Bulldogs found themselves down 26-9 with 9:55 remaining. UMD scored right out of the gate following the timeout with a quick layup. Senior guard Logan Rohrscheib would nail a layup to follow to pull within 15. Myer scored shortly after to slowly chip away at the lead. The Bulldogs would trail 34-18 headed into the final media timeout with 5:28 left in the quarter. Myer scored out of the break and UMC would call a timeout just after. The Golden Eagles would hit an in tight jumper just out of the timeout and follow up with a deep 3-pointer. Myer would hit two free throws in attempt to get momentum going for UMD, but UMC hit a short jumper. Illikainen dropped a quick layup to respond. The Bulldogs would trail heading into halftime 44-28.
 
The Golden Eagles opened the second half quickly with a layup right off the bat. Illikainen followed with a short jumper very quickly to respond. UMC found a quick two followed by two points off of two free throws. Heading into the first media timeout, UMD found themselves trailing 57-40. After the Golden Eagles hit a free throw out of the break, Myer hit a quick layup. Myer would score another layup to cut the lead to 14. Sophomore guard Hunter Plamann would drop two free throws shortly after. UMC found the scoreboard again for two points after UMD scored six straight. Myer responded with a basket beyond the arc with 11:01 remaining. The Bulldogs pulled to within single digits with 9:20 remaining with sophomore guard Mason Steffen draining a long 3-pointer. UMD trailed 60-52 with 8:38 left in the second half heading into a media timeout.. Myer took to the line out of the timeout, scoring both shots to cut the lead to six. The Golden Eagles found a basket shortly after and drew a foul, draining the free throw to complete the 3-point play. The Bulldogs would trail by nine with 5:21 heading into a media timeout. UMC dropped in a layup out of the timeout. Rohrschieb would hit a quick layup followed by a deep 3-pointer from redshirt freshman guard Drew Blair. Myer would hit a quick jumper with 3:18 remaining. Myer tied it with two minutes remaining with a deep basket from beyond the arc. The Bulldogs would take the lead from Rohrscheib hitting a short jumper with 1:37 remaining. The Golden Eagles hit a short jumper to tie things back up but Blair grabbed the lead right back with UMC not going away and tying things with 40 left on the clock. Blair drove the lane and took the lead right back, with UMD taking a timeout with 26 left on the clock. With just eight on the clock, UMC would score both on a one and one to tie things at 75 a side. The teams would take it into overtime at 75 a side.
 
The Golden Eagles would score first on a short jumper. Blair would hammer down a dunk and draw a foul, scoring an and one to take the lead. Myer nailed a layup and drew a foul, hitting the and one to take a four point lead. UMC scored a layup in response but Blair scored a layup of his own and followed up with another one shortly after. The Golden Eagles cute the lead to four with 90 seconds left in the period, drawing a foul and hitting the and one to bring the score to 85-82 in favor of the Bulldogs. Steffen would make two free throws to take a five point lead. UMC would score a shot in tight and draw a foul but would miss the shot. Rohrscheib made one of two from the line with just over 20 seconds in the game. The Bulldogs would hold tight to the lead and win the game 90-84.
 
Myer finished with his 12th double-double on the season, scoring 44 on the night, grabbing 13 rebounds along with a block, two steals and three assists. He went 15-25 from the floor. Blair finished with 26 points on the evening, grabbing six rebounds along with one assist and a steal. Steffen would score seven in the contest, grabbing four rebounds with one assist and two steals. Illikainen scored six, grabbing three rebounds and two steals.

"Incredibly proud of our ability to hang in there" said head coach Justin Wieck. "It didn't look great for 28 minutes, but we hung around. Myer and Blair were fantastic for us down the stretch. A huge gut check wim for our guys."
 
Myer inches closer to being the all-time scoring leader at UMD, as he now sits just 27 points away from taking the crown from Jay Guidinger. Myer now has 1,927 points in his career, while Guidinger finished with 1,953. He also now has 824 rebounds, 56 away from being 3rd all-time.
 
The Bulldogs finish out the regular season portion of their schedule tomorrow evening, traveling to Bemidji State University to take on the Beavers at 5:30 PM.