Sequels rarely live up to the first installment, but UMD's rematch against St. Cloud State in Romano on Sunday was some exception. The Bulldogs and Huskies battled to overtime once again, and just like in round one, it was UMD that prevailed in the end. The Bulldogs took the contest 84-80 to improve to 10-2 on the season and 6-0 in NSIC play heading into the holidays.

Just as they had back in November, it was the Bulldogs that took the first decent lead of the game on Sunday. UMD flipped an 8-8 score with 16:39 left in the half to a 16-8 lead off of eight unanswered points in less than two minutes. The worst position the Bulldogs would find themselves in the rest of the frame would be knotted up with the Huskies at an even score. This would first occur again after St. Cloud clawed themselves back into the matchup with a 14-6 stretch of their own over about six minutes of action to leave things tied at 22 a pop with 9:27 remaining in the half. Not long after that, though, a Drew Blair three had the Bulldogs back on top by two possessions at 27-22. This proved to be a resilient bunch of Huskies, as they'd answer with five-straight points to level the playing field once again at 27-27 with 4:05 left in the half.

Then Blair made himself known once again, securing a massive three-point play to give UMD the lead again at 30-27. This time, the Bulldogs wouldn't let it slip away from them before they headed into halftime. UMD ballooned its reestablished lead up to a half-high of eight at a score of 39-31 with 1:13 left. The advantage wouldn't be too far removed from that at the break, where the Bulldogs were still ahead 42-36.

Blair had himself quite the first half on Sunday. Through just 20 minutes, the guard already had 19 points on 6-8 shooting from the field. Most of that work had come from beyond the arc, from which Blair had already shot a lights-out 5-6. The redshirt senior still found ways to chip in elsewhere, too, grabbing four rebounds and dishing out two assists.

Who else was it but Blair to open the second half with another three-ball to give the Bulldogs their highest lead of the game at 45-36. UMD was able to lead through a large chunk of the second half simply by riding this early advantage, but tick by tick, the Huskies were bringing themselves back into striking distance. By the 14:48 mark, a Kevin Cook layup had brought St. Cloud all the way back to within a point at 49-48 UMD. Ryan Bagley would finish the job a little over two minutes later with a huge three to push the Huskies ahead 51-49, giving them their first lead since the score was 6-5. 

By the 11:26 mark, UMD already had the game knotted up once more at 55. A five-minute grind even saw the Bulldogs back on top at 60-59 with just 6:01 remaining, courtesy of a Blair layup. But the Huskies charged back all the same. In fact, five-straight points from leading scorer Matthew Willert eventually pushed St. Cloud to its biggest lead of the entire game at 67-60. It was a pretty opportune time to be hitting that kind of mark, as there was just 4:44 remaining for UMD to mount a comeback bid. 

Enter Joshua Brown. The guard responded in kind to Willert's hot streak with a five-point stretch of his own to bring the lead back down to two at 67-65 with 2:47 remaining. The Huskies were able to build that lead back up to four at the line to make it 69-65, but the Bulldogs would methodically draw even once again through the closing 1:58. UMD scored the last four points of regulation while holding St. Cloud scoreless, sending the contest into OT 69-69.

Blair added to his totals on the night with 15 more points in the second half on a 6-11 outing from the field. He also replicated his four-rebound effort from the half before.

This extra frame went a little differently than the one out in St. Cloud, wherein the Bulldogs eventually took a two-possession lead and didn't much look back. Things were back and fourth almost the entire way through these five minutes. All things considered, there were four ties and five total lead changes throughout. For almost the entirety of overtime, neither team was able to develop a two-possession lead. So even when a Blair jumper made it 80-78 with just 32 seconds left, there was a feeling that the Huskies might still be able to turn around and even the score once again. Then, something a little different happened. Tommy Chatman had gone for the lead outright with a three-ball attempt, but it didn't find the net. When Blair found himself with the rebound, he was able to turn down court to connect with Brown for a monster dunk to put the Bulldogs up 82-78 with just 13 ticks left on the clock. That's about as much of an exclamation point as a team can ask for. The Huskies would get back to within two at 82-80, but they then had nine seconds to play the foul game- one they'd lose when Blair sank both of his ensuing attempts to seal the deal. The Bulldogs walked out of Romano with a massive 84-80 victory. 

It's fair to say that Blair's performance across the contest also fits that "massive" criteria. The guard sure does like playing the Huskies. Less than a month removed from scoring a career-high 38 points against them out in St. Cloud, Blair responded by upping the ante with 39 Sunday. Once again, little expense was paid to efficiency throughout this personal milestone of a night. Blair got his points on 13-20 shooting from the field and 7-11 (!!) shooting from three. When he wasn't scoring, he was helping to generate offense elsewhere. The guard was a rebound shy of a double-double with nine on the night and also had four assists to his name.

But 39 doesn't equal 84. Three other Bulldogs also scored in double figures towards UMD's big win. Brown had 14 on the day on an even 6-12 shooting from the field. He also had five rebounds. Charlie Katona had another productive game with 12 points, nearly half of those coming from 5-6 shooting from the line. The forward also snagged nine rebounds to tie for the team lead all while leading the team in assists with five. Last was Jack Middleton, who put up 10 points while snagging six boards of his own. He paired these totals with a pair of assists and steals.

The Huskies were led by a trio of double-digit scorers. Leading the charge was Chatman with 19 points to go with five rebounds. Matthew Willert and Luke Taylor each had 15 points and six rebounds on the day. Willert would have the edge in assists with four, but Taylor won the block battle with two.

WORDS FROM WIECK

UMD isn't just perfect in conference play heading into the new year- the team also maintains a flawless 3-0 mark in overtime. 

To UMD head coach Justin Wieck, what stood out in that third tally was his team's ability to stay present and persevere through hardships both internal and external. 

"We talk all the time about winning the next five minutes... probably got a little bit lucky to get to overtime, so it was a great chance to kind of reset," Wieck said. "I think the same thing happened at their place last time- they had a shot to win and missed, and then it got to overtime. (It's) a chance for us to reset and just try to play our best five minutes of the night, and we shot 71% from the field in overtime, held them to 3-7… Wouldn't say that's our cleanest game by any stretch of the imagination, but you've got to give St. Cloud a lot of credit- they've battled us like crazy twice now for 90 minutes total. They've got a great coach, and they're going to continue to be better and better. Just proud of our guys for sticking with it- it wasn't fun, necessarily, it wasn't easy, but we did a great job staying in the moment those last five minutes."

Two of UMD's wins in the extra frame this season have come against St. Cloud. This is the first time the Bulldogs have encountered a team for a second time all season, so it's only natural that it would go the distance. 

This is the reality of NSIC play, something Wieck is now well-versed in. He also has a good understanding of what made the Huskies in particular such a tough opponent to match up against for another go-around.

"(The Huskies) have a really good scheme," Wieck said. "They play hard, they've got some tough matchups for us with some of their smaller, quicker guards all over the place. I just thought they did a good job kind of controlling the pace of the game- they controlled the toughness of the game until we got to overtime- we got some big 50/50 balls. You play teams twice... it's going to be hard. It's always hard to win in this league."

Through all of this, though, Wieck's also got a pretty strong read on the pulse of his own team. The mood isn't exactly reminiscent of Kobe Bryant's famous "job's not finished" interview during the 2009 NBA finals, but it's similar in its outlook on the future- there's still work to be done.

"We're the only undefeated team (in the NSIC) at break, so there's some pride in that," Wieck said. "We've got better basketball ahead. I think we can play a lot better- our guys know that- so it's exciting to be here, 10-2 at break, and still feel like we've got a ton of different ways to improve. Hopefully we can find our stride here coming out of Christmas break."

It's a little scary to believe that someone like Blair has another gear that's yet to be hit. He's already given us two reasons to believe it this year, though. 

What's stopping him from hitting 40? 45? 50? It certainly won't be some kind of lack of talent- he's got that in spades. Just ask Wieck. 

"I think he's taken better shots for the most part this year than maybe he has in the past," Wieck said. "Shot selection's better, he's passing the ball- for him to have three, four, five assists in a game is huge because he draws so much attention. Our whole team, we've talked about shot selection. He's finding his groove. He's shooting it well, obviously- 7-11 is awesome. He's just that guy that is dangerous as soon as he crosses half court, quite honestly. He draws so much attention, and he has a knack to get downhill, as well... he's kind of been that consistent force. After we got through the first couple of weeks, since about last time we played St. Cloud, he's been phenomenal... Credit to him. He's gotten better from last year- a lot of our guys have- and we're excited to see where this team can go after Christmas."

If 10-2 overall records and 39-point nights are just stepping stones… more clouds will soon be conquered.