St. Cloud, Minn. – The UMD men's basketball team defeated St. Cloud State 94-89 in overtime on Tuesday to start off 1-0 in NSIC play. With the win, already the Bulldogs' second victory in extra time this season, the team's record improves to 4-1.

The story of the game tonight was UMD guard Drew Blair, and he wrote a very impressive opening chapter in the first half. In the opening frame alone, the redshirt-senior guard put up 22 points on 7-11 shooting, including going 4-7 from three. He contributed more than half of the Bulldogs' 39 points for the half- in a frame where UMD needed every point it could get. 

At first, it seemed like the day would belong to UMD and UMD alone as the Bulldogs started off on a 9-2 run. The Huskies did more than just respond- they dealt a bid-time right hook. Soon, it was St. Cloud in the driver's seat by a lead as high as 14 on a few occasions, last at 33-19 with 5:37 remaining in the half. Placed in a hole early, all the Bulldogs could do was dig- and dig, they did. UMD brought the deficit down to single digits at 33-24. They trimmed it down to five at 38-33 off of a Blair three. Blair from deep again- 38-36. Blair. Three. Part three. With only three seconds left in the half , no less. 39-38. UMD leads going into the break and does so on the back of a 9-0 run. 

The Bulldogs would extend that to a 13-0 stretch in the early goings of the second half to take a 43-38 advantage. That's when the Huskies would finally answer back with two quick threes to regain the lead at 44-43 with 17:57 left to play. For about seven minutes after this point, it was a total dogfight, with neither team able to take much of a substantial lead. The Bulldogs held a six-point advantage at a score of 63-57 with 10:16 left in the game, but the Huskies had it back to within two at 63-61 less than two minutes later. 69-61 UMD eventually became 69-66. At that point, the Bulldogs seemed to get sick of this trend and really put their foot on the gas. With exactly five minutes remaining, UMD had established a 77-68 lead.

Unfortunately, the Huskies would not be denied. At the 2:27 mark, the game was again tied at 81 apiece. The score soon hit 85-85 with under a minute to play. Each team had a chance to retake the lead in regulation. Once the Bulldogs missed, the Huskies were the team that owned the right to be able to seal the deal without any doubt. A Matthew Willert three-pointer was off the mark, and the game headed to OT. 

Blair still had 14 points in the second frame, but several other Bulldogs chipped in, too. Three UMD players had seven points in the half, those being Charlie Katona and bench leaders Joshua Strong and Lincoln Meister. Two Huskies posted double-digits in the half in Luke Taylor and Willert, who each had 12. 

For the second consecutive overtime period, the Bulldogs looked locked-in. With just under two minutes remaining, UMD had established a 90-85 lead, a five-point advantage that would hold at a score of 92-87. The Huskies would respond with a Tommy Chatman two-pointer to draw back to within a possession, but a pair of Charlie Katona free-throws would eventually ice the game for UMD at 94-89. The Bulldogs shot 3-5 (60%) from the field in the free period compared to 2-7 (28.6%) shooting for the Huskies. 

By the end of the back-and-forth contest, four Bulldogs had double-digits. Leading the charge was Blair with a career-best 38 points. It's not just that he scored so much- it's that he did it so efficiently. The guard shot 12-21 (57.1%) from the field and 6-13 (46.15%) from three. Blair was also 8-8 from the line. Why stop there- he also contributed four assists and six rebounds. Joining Blair in the double-digits club were Katona and Meister with 13 and Joshua Brown with 12. Meister in particular was also precise on the night, shooting 4-6 (66.67%) from the field. Brown finished the night with a double-double by grabbing ten boards. As a team, the Bulldogs shot 50.8% from the field.

The St. Cloud scoring effort was one that was done entirely by committee. Six different Huskies ended the night in double-digits. Willert led the team with 18. Taylor was right behind with 17. Ryan Bagley had 14, Chatman had 12, Joe Mutimer had 11 and Kevin Cook had 10. Bagley had eight assists to lead the team while Chatman had a team-high seven rebounds.

WORDS FROM WIECK
There are certainly things worth celebrating about Tuesday's win, and Blair's performance is high on the list.

UMD head coach Justin Wieck had a lot of praise for the guard for having a big night at about the best time possible for the Bulldogs.

"Drew was phenomenal tonight all around," Wieck said. "I knew it was a matter of time until he broke out shooting wise, and he did that tonight. We really needed that lift in the first half because we were struggling. He's been getting buckets for four years now in this league, and that's exactly what we needed tonight."

As Wieck's comments allude to, despite the win, there were still aspects of Tuesday's performance that could have gone better. 

For example, even in what was a major improvement efficiency-wise from the field against St. Cloud compared to the Bulldogs' previous matchup against Ferris State (from 33.8% to 50.8%), Wieck still thinks his team's offensive unit has another level that it can reach. 

"On the offensive end we just haven't found our groove yet for whatever reason," Wieck said. "We're constantly evaluating and trying new things to get us going. We have a ton of talent and a ton of guys who have scored at a high level in their career. I'm proud we're finding ways to win."

Still, Wieck has no intentions of pushing the panic button. He has confidence in his group, and hey, as he said himself, the team's still winning. The fact that they might have an even higher peak that they can climb themselves to isn't too bad to hear when you're already 4-1.

"We have winners in our program," Wieck said. "It's not pretty right now and it's a grind. But we'll figure it out as we go. We preach (to) stay in the moment, keep working like crazy, and these guys continue to keep doing that."