MANKATO, MINN.- The UMD men's basketball team took down Minnesota State 85-76 in Mankato on Saturday to secure a sweep of its weekend road trip. The Bulldogs head back home with a 12-4 overall record and an 8-2 mark in NSIC play. UMD currently stands at No. 3 in the North Division and in the conference overall. 

Early on, it seemed as if the Mavericks were cashing in on some home-court magic. 

Minnesota State sank five of its first six attempts from deep, a clip of 83.3%. The Bulldogs stayed steady through this rain of threes, though- when the weather settled, UMD was down just six at 17-11 with 15:35 still to play in the first half. It'd be the same deficit at the 14:14 mark, just with a 19-13 rebranding. It's at this point that the Bulldogs really started to be rewarded for maneuvering through the Mavericks' early hotstreak. UMD kicked out on an 8-2 run in two minutes and change to knot the score up at 21 apiece with 11:41 remaining. That 8-2 stretch soon expanded all the way to 16-6. Just like that, the Bulldogs found themselves up two scores at 29-25 with just 4:57 left in the half. 

But the Mavericks didn't just survive the rest of the frame until they could return to their stables for halftime- they continued to battle. And it didn't take all that long for them to see the fruits of their labor. 

In a twist of fate that took just over a minute to materialize, Minnesota State suddenly found itself back up two at 31-29 with 3:47 to go. The icing on the cake? A four-point play from MSU's Trevor Moore, who sank a three through contact and capitalized on his opportunity at the stripe.

If you thought this would phase the Bulldogs, you haven't been paying attention. UMD proceeded instead to go on yet another 8-2 run to make the score 37-33 Bulldogs with only 1:19 until half. The Mavericks would do good work to stop the bleeding going into the break, even pulling within a point at 39-38 with just seven seconds left, but they'd still find themselves down three when the first 20 expired. UMD took a well-earned 41-38 advantage into half number two. 

Much was made of Minnesota State's early success from beyond the arc, but rest assured, UMD had its own representative on the radar, too: Charlie Katona. It's not just that the junior forward scored a team-high 12 points for the half- it's that he did it on perfect 4-4 shooting from the field. Go ahead and toss in a pair of assists and rebounds on that statline, too. Drew Blair sure wasn't far behind. The guard put up 11 points on 4-6 (66.7%) shooting to go with an assist and a steal.

And to be clear, nowhere was it said that the Bulldogs themselves had a poor outing from beyond the arc through 20 minutes. In fact, UMD shot an even 4-8 from three-point land- nothing wrong with that. Still, significant credit has to be given to Mankato for its own work from deep. The Mavericks cooled down a touch as the half went on, but they still finished 7-15 in the frame, a shooting percentage of 46.7%. One of the main orchestrators of this attack had been Moore, the aforementioned four-point man. Well, turns out he scored a little more than that through 20 minutes- 14 more points, to be exact. Moore entered the break with 18 points on 5-8 (62.5%) shooting from the field and 3-5 (60%) shooting from deep. The guard went a perfect 5-5 from the charity stripe for good measure. 

Moore's services would surely be called upon in the early stages of the second half, as UMD was able to push its lead back up to two scores at 45-40 with 18:31 remaining. It was a team effort (one Moore continued two points to) that eventually saw Minnesota State knot things up once again at 47-47 with 16:38 to go. 

UMD had enjoyed its fair share of uncontested runs to this point- but the team's next one was arguably its most important of the night. Staring down a tie ball-game, a trifecta of Bulldogs joined forces to will UMD back on top. Joshua Brown got things started with a three to put the team back up 50-47. Then, Austin Andrews got involved, downing a layup to push the lead to five. Finally, Katona turned a defensive board on one end into a layup of his own on the other to suddenly secure a massive seven-point UMD advantage. The score was now 54-47 with 15:25 left, the Bulldogs taking just over a minute to swing things entirely in their favor.

From there, the game entered a kind of stalemate- something that favors the team with the lead. 

Credit to the Mavericks- they kept fighting. But every time they'd get to within a score of making things really interesting (typically three points), the Bulldogs would score a bucket or two on the other end to push the game further out of reach. Something that didn't make matters much easier for MSU? Foul trouble. By the time the team hit the under-10 media timeout, Minnesota State had two players in Moore and Kyreese Willingham that had already reached four fouls. That's two of the team's three leading scorers- and the other, Malik Willingham, didn't suit up for this one due to injury. And it doesn't stop there- three other Mavericks (Tyrell Stuttley, Kelby Kramer and Malcolm Jones) all had three bookings to their names. That's an entire five-man rotation walking on thin ice. It's an aspect of UMD's relentless ability to get to the line all season long that really put itself on full display on Saturday. 

Speaking of getting to the line…

In spite of having to maneuver around a minefield of foul trouble, Minnesota State still found itself down just two at 73-71 with 5:49 remaining. In fact, it'd been Moore, four fouls and-all, that had just drained a three to get the Mavericks to this point. But they wouldn't be so close for long- enter Brown. The junior guard fought through contact to not only sink a layup but also earn himself a shot at a three-point play. He wouldn't take that opportunity for granted. With that, UMD's lead was again two-possessions at 76-71 with just 4:58 on the clock. 

What if we told you this was just the start of yet another multi-score run for UMD? Too predictable?

From that earlier 73-71 mark, the Bulldogs proceeded to score seven-straight en route to an 80-71 vice grip of a lead in a game that had just 2:48 left on the board. Brown had started it, so why not have him finish it with a layup, too. 

That was about all she wrote for this one. The Harrison Braudis three that ended the scoreless run for Minnesota State and made the score 80-74 with 2:25 left provided some brief tension, but it would be the only bucket scored by either team for over a minute. By the time Blair was sinking two free-throws to make it 82-74, there were just 46 seconds remaining. The Mavericks had simply run out of time. And when the clock hit all zeros, it was the Bulldogs that had secured an 85-76 victory. 

Brown had himself a half in the final 20 minutes of this one. The guard tallied 14 points on 5-8 (62.5%) shooting from the field to go along with three rebounds and a steal. Meanwhile, Katona continued to shoot with total precision. The 6'6" sniper added to his earlier total with eight more points on 3-3 shooting to go along with five more rebounds. 

The Bulldogs may not have been as perfect as Katona from the field as a team in the second half, but relatively speaking, they did pretty good for themselves. UMD shot 16-29 in the final frame, a 55.2% shooting percentage.

On Friday, Brown broke out for a season-high of 21 points. UMD head coach Justin Wieck said after the game that he hoped that kind if performance would get Brown going for the second half of the season. Well… just a day later, the guard outdid himself. Brown finished Saturday with a new touchstone of 22 points on 8-12 (66.7%) shooting from the field and 3-6 shooting from deep. He also had four rebounds and two steals. Then, of course, there's Katona, who played the role of Mr. Perfect on Saturday. It's the first time in the forward's career that he's finished a game with a spotless record from the field- and he did it in style. Katona tallied 20 points while going 7-7 from the court. And he wasn't just scoring in Mankato- he also grabbed seven boards, tossed out three assists and snagged two steals. Rounding out the list of UMD's double-digit scorers on the night was Blair, who had a bounce-back performance of 19 points on 7-15 (46.7%) shooting from the field to go with five rebounds, an assist and a steal. As a unit, UMD shot 31-60 from the field, a 51.7% clip. Joshua Strong helped to facilitate all of the scoring above with a team-high four assists. 

Minnesota State was led by Moore, who ended the game with 27 points. He went a perfect 9-9 from the charity stripe in the process. Braudis had 16 while going 4-8 from deep. Kyreese Willingham was the last Maverick to hit double-digits, scoring 13. All three of these players tallied three assists a pop.

WORDS FROM WIECK

In both games this weekend, UMD shot the ball above 50% as a team. It's the second time this has happened all season. 

To Wieck, this is indicative of a talented team being able to properly spread the wealth and play within-system. He liked what he saw- but he wants to see more.

"This weekend was big for us,"' Wieck said. "When we move and share the ball, we have so many weapons. Our commitment to that style of play will be huge as we continue into the heart of our season."

It's a development that could be massive for UMD when paired with something the Bulldogs have excelled at all year, a trait also on full display on Saturday- an affinity for getting to the line.

 Not only is it always a plus to have a shot at a freebie or two (or three), but this style also inherently leads to a bouquet of foul trouble for the opposing team. To put it simply, it's something that makes playing against the Bulldogs a bit of a workout. 

Wieck is well aware of this tendency and of how much it helped his team both Saturday and the season at-large so far. 

"We've done a great job of drawing fouls all year long," Wieck said. "We are physical and attack the rim at a ton of different positions. It really helped us in a ton of ways tonight."

Speaking of help, the culmination of UMD's efforts on both Friday and Saturday helped it to rebound from a tough New Year's Weekend and enter 2023 with a rejuvenated spirit.

As if we should have expected anything else, though- these are the road dogs we're talking about. UMD is currently 6-0 while playing the role of visitor in NSIC contests to start the season. Those six tallies have come in all shapes and sizes, but at the end of the day, a W is a W. Although that is true… those road wins have a certain aura around them.

Wieck is happy with his team's effort on the road trip this weekend. He knows how hard it is to win in the NSIC at all, much less away from home. Still, though, he hopes his team aspires for more than just a road sweep in January. Wieck has always had major aspirations with this team, and while a performance like the one we've seen across these last two days is a promising start on that path, it's just that- a start. 

"Road wins are really hard to come by in our league," Wieck said. "Our focus and effort has been really good on the road. Our challenge now is to build off this and see how good we can be."