The #12 University of Minnesota Duluth Men's Basketball team opened their regular season schedule tonight with a win against the Oklahoma Baptist University Bison on the first night of the GAC/NSIC Conference Crossover.

First Half: UMD (42) - OBU (38)

The Bulldogs started out their season hot, going toe to toe with the Bison and trading leads back and forth. Unfortunately a foul and steal leading to a string of six unanswered points would cause UMD to somewhat lose their footing early on, finding themselves at a 11-21 deficit around seven minutes into the game. A quick two points coming out of the timeout and a steal of their own would see the momentum shift back into the favor of the Bulldogs. A string of 8 unanswered points for themselves would bring the game back within two and eventually the Bulldogs would take back the lead and go up 42-38 with a three point shot before the half.

UMD would go 17-39 on field goals in the first half, but would find success in their height and stature advantage over their opponent by forcing 11 offensive rebounds compared to OBU's three. UMD would lead for less than four minutes throughout the first half, but their ability to come up with the ball and minimize their own turnovers would prove to find them the advantage.

Final Score: UMD (77) - OBU (71)

UMD would stabilize throughout the start of the second half, holding at least a two point lead over the Bison for the first five or so minutes. Unfortunately a foul leading to a string of seven unanswered points from OBU would find them trying to play from behind again. They were quick to answer back with eight of their own though and put them back up five. Despite the best effort of the Bison, the physicality and ability to come up with the ball would let the Bulldogs hold onto the lead for the rest of the second half, closing out the game with two successful free throws.

UMD would only go 13-34 on field goals throughout the second half, but would yet again be able to force an impressive 13 offensive rebounds. In contrast to the first, UMD would hold the lead for over 16 minutes of the second half and earn 15 of their 35 second half points off turnovers.

Drew Blair Breaks All Time Scoring Record

With his performance tonight against the Bison, graduate student guard Drew Blair has officially become the all time leading scorer for UMD Men's Basketball. He breaks the former record of 2,045 career points, held by 2016-19 Bulldog forward Brandon Myer.

Top Performers

Blair topped the points chart tonight, going 13-25 with a 52% field goal percentage for a total 33 points on his way to breaking the scoring record. Senior forward Austin Andrews came away with 10 points and a 57.1% field goal percentage, while also leading the game with 8 total rebounds. Senior guard Joshua Brown went a perfect 2-2 from the free throw line to collect an 11 point game and lead the game with 2 blocks.

Up Next

Men's Basketball will take on East Central University tomorrow afternoon for the second day of the GAC/NSIC Conference Crossover. The action for the Bulldogs will kick off at 3 PM.