It was a tale of two defenses this afternoon in Aberdeen, SD. The University of Minnesota Duluth men's basketball team battled in a back and forth game that saw nine lead changes with the #2 ranked team in the country before succumbing to defeat late in the second half, 64-58. 

UMD would make multiple adjustments on the defensive end of the ball and it would show as they held Northern State to just 21-53 (39.6%) shooting from the field and 5-20 (25%) shooting from beyond the long line. UMD would shoot 24-57 (42.1%) from the field and 6-17 (35.3%) from beyond the arc. Bench points and fouls would end up playing a key role in Saturday's game as the Northern State bench would outscore UMD's bench 14-0. The Wolves were fouled 23 times resulting in Northern State shooting 17-27 (63.0%) from the charity stripe. 

Four Bulldogs would find themselves in double digits in the points category when the final horn rang. Sophomore guard Jack Middleton led the way for UMD with 14 points, going 5-6 shooting from the field and 2-2 shooting from beyond the arc. Middleton would also grab four boards, dish out three assists and a team high two steals. Freshman forward Charlie Katona finished right behind Middleton with 13 points of his own. Katona led UMD with seven rebounds, as well as tallied two assists and one steal. Redshirt sophomore Drew Blair would finish with 12 points, four rebounds and one block. Freshman forward Austin Andrews would finish with an even 10 points, going 5-7 shooting. Andrews would grab four rebounds and one assist as well. Freshman guard Joshua Brown finished with 9 points, while grabbing six rebounds and dishing out two helpers. 

Andrews, Blair, Brown, Katona and Middleton would all play no less than 34 minutes during the game. Blair and Katona led the way with 37 minutes played. 

The Bulldogs will head home next weekend as they welcome the Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagles to Romano Gymnasium. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. on Friday and 4:00 p.m. on Saturday.