UMD men's basketball took a competitive 95-82 matchup against the Beavers in Minot on Friday night. With the win, the Bulldogs improve to 8-2 on the year and maintain perfect posture in NSIC play at 4-0.
For some time, it seemed as if UMD and Minot would be in total lockstep with each other the entire game. The 13:28 mark found the Bulldogs holding a sliver of a lead at a score of 14-13. Soon enough, that advantage would blossom into a pretty sizable portion. UMD rallied off a 16-4 run capped off by an exclamation point of a dunk from Mattie Thompson, leaving the score at 30-17 UMD with 8:11 left in the half. Just as it appeared that the Bulldogs would start to run away with this one, the Beavers threw a huge counterpunch. Minot went on a 14-4 stretch of their own to make it 34-31 UMD with 3:52 in the half. The Bulldogs would bolster their lead back up to as high as six in the frame, a Drew Blair three leaving the score at 42-36 UMD with 2:03 remaining until the break. But it was the Beavers that would finish the half out strong, scoring its last five points to leave them down just one going into halftime at a score of 42-41 UMD.
The Bulldogs had seemingly done just about everything you could ask for of a road team to open a game, especially on offense. They shot 16-26 from the field (61.5%) and 6-12 from three. Austin Andrews already had 10 points on the night on 4-4 shooting to go with three rebounds. Four other Bulldogs had at least five points, too. The thing is… Minot had managed to keep pretty good pace in its own right. The Beavers shot 17-30 from the field (56.7%), 4-9 (44.4%) from three. They had a 10-point scorer of their own in Cam'ron Dunfee, who'd registered his on 4-7 (57.1%) shooting from the court. He was one of four Beavers to score at least six points in the half. Despite a hot start from UMD, this one looked destined for a battle of a second half.
The closing trends of the first frame didn't stop the Bulldogs from opening the second one on a 10-3 run to develop an eight point lead at 52-44 just a hair over three minutes after the break. Minot had actually taken a lead for themselves during this stretch when they cashed in three free throws to take a 44-43 advantage, one that lasted all of 34 seconds.
UMD would maintain a two-possession lead until the 12:57 mark of the half, when a Dylan Gichaba layup drew the Beavers within three at a score of 57-54. Shortly thereafter, the game was all knotted up at 59 after a three from Gichaba. Then, Lincoln Meister got fouled. He drained both of his free throw attempts, giving his team the lead once again at 61-59. Then, Drew Blair got fouled. He followed suit by making both of his shots from the charity stripe. Just like that, it was 63-59 UMD with 10:50 remaining on the clock. The Bulldogs had gone back up by two scores simply by taking care of business from the line. That lead would dip to within a score once more after Dunfee sunk three free throws of his own to make it 65-62. After a Jack Middleton jumper made it 67-62 with 9:48 to play, the Bulldogs would hold on tight to their lead and never come all that close to letting it go again. At the 7:10 mark, Mattie Thompson capped off a three-point play to extend UMD's lead to 12. It'd never dip below double figures the rest of the way. The Beavers would get to within 10 on a few occasions, last at a score of 88-78 with just 2:23 left, but the Bulldogs just kept closing the door. By the end of the game, UMD's advantage had settled to 13 at a score of 95-82.
Blair put on a clinic of a second half for the Bulldogs. He scored 16 on 5-7 (71.4%) shooting from the field, going 2-4 from three. The guard also went a perfect 4-4 from the line. Blair also had four rebounds and a team-high three steals in the frame. Andrews again hit double figures in the half with 10 points of his own, once again on 4-4 shooting. As a team, UMD outdid itself from the field, operating at an overall field goal percentage of 72% in the frame on 18-25 shooting.
All things considered, the Bulldogs shot 66.7% on the night. That's the team's most efficient outing in more than a calendar year, dating back to a 68.1% performance against Northland last season on Nov. 16, 2021. Two UMD players scored 20+ in the game, those being Blair (23 on 8-14 shooting, 57.1 FG%) and Andrews (20 on 8-8 shooting). This is the first time in Andrews' career that he's closed a game without missing a basket. Blair, meanwhile, added a team-best six rebounds and four steals to his stat line. Two other Bulldogs broke into double figures. Meister tied his season-high with 13 points, going 3-3 from the field and 7-8 from the line. He did all of this in just 10:56 of playing time. Joshua Strong had 12 points on 5-9 (55.6%) shooting.
Four Beavers closed with double-digit scoring for the game. They were led by Cam'ron Dunfee, who had 19 on 6-12 shooting. Collectively, Minot shot 50.9% from the field, going 29-57.
WORDS FROM WIECK
UMD's huge surge in the first half to jump out to a 30-17 advantage was big enough in the moment. With hindsight, the importance of that early run is only elevated even more. UMD head coach Justin Wieck is certainly aware of this- he minced few words about it.
"We finally jumped out to a good start," Wieck said. "We've been playing from behind a lot this year. It's always great to get going early."
For as hot of a start as UMD had to the game, there's always room for fine-tuning. This is especially the case given Minot's comeback bid in the latter stages of the first half to leave the Bulldogs' advantage at just a point going into the break. Not only did Wieck make some tweaks at the half, but he saw them put into action in the second frame.
"I thought our offense really improved in the 2nd half," Wieck said. "We made a few adjustments ball screen wise, and I thought it really allowed us to get downhill and create good shots. Once again, when we are unselfish and hunt assists, we've proven to be pretty efficient offensively."
UMD was especially proficient around the glass in the last 20 minutes. The Bulldogs cut their three-point shooting in half in the second half, shooting just six compared to the 12 they'd put up in the first. Instead, UMD outscored Minot 28-14 in the paint. Safe to say the changes paid off.
Something UMD probably didn't have to adjust as much at the break? Their overall discipline. That's because this team didn't just play composed basketball on Friday- they've been doing it all year. Against the Beavers in particular, UMD had just 12 fouls. On the opposite side of the coin, UMD surely didn't spend much time talking about getting to the line- they proved once again on Friday that they're pretty good at that, too. The Bulldogs shot a total of 26 free throws against Minot compared to just 18 for the Beavers. UMD cashed in on 19 of them- and each proved to be massive in a game like this.
Combining these practices is a pretty strong formula for success. To Wieck, it was business as usual.
"We've been dominate at the FT line this year, and tonight was no different," Wieck said. "We have proven we draw a ton of fouls with how we pound it inside and also have done a great job of defending without fouling. An overall awesome win for our guys on the road."
