Sioux Falls, S.D.- UMD men's basketball secured an all-important 75-69 victory against No. 18 Northern State in the NSIC Tournament Semifinals in the Sanford Pentagon on Monday. The win punches UMD's ticket to its second-straight NSIC Championship game, allowing it to continue its chase for its first conference tournament title since 2003. This also marks the first time the Bulldogs have made consecutive championship appearances since they won two in a row between 2002 and 2003. 

Monday's first half against the Wolves proved to be even more of a defensive battle than Sunday's opening frame against the Peacocks. Didn't look like this would be the case right away, though- the Bulldogs came out red-hot in this one. It took them less than five minutes for UMD to secure a two-score lead at 7-2, something it'd taken until around the ten minute mark for either team to accomplish the day before. And by the 12:13 mark, the Bulldogs appeared to have truly taken control. That's when a Charlie Katona layup pushed the score all the way to 13-6, UMD's lead up to half-high of seven. 

But over the next 2 minutes and change, the Wolves would remind the Pentagon crowd why they were the outright NSIC Champions of the regular season.

An 8-0 storm of a run from NSU capped by a Jacken Moni bucket suddenly left UMD down a point at 14-13 with 9:23 to go in the half. It proved to be the largest unanswered run of the frame. Still, the Bulldogs would do good work to cap the surge right at eight and keep themselves in the fight. This was far from the end of the Wolves' scoring, though, as they'd ultimately find themselves up two scores themselves at 24-19 by way of a Michael Nhial three-ball with 4:34 remaining. All-told, it'd been a 25-13 scoring run in favor of NSU dating back to that 13-6 UMD advantage. 

Once again, the Bulldogs would work hard to mitigate the Wolves' rush and stay afloat. Scoring from that 24-19 mark until the break was a dead-heat at seven points a-pop, the halftime score reading 31-26 NSU. 

A duo of UMD players had been key in allowing the Bulldogs to stick around in the first 20 minutes from an offensive perspective. Drew Blair was at the top of the first half scoring charts with eight points to go along with a team-leading two steals. Right behind him was Katona, who potted seven points to couple with a Bulldog-high six rebounds. On the other end, three Wolves closed the first frame with six points, those being Sam Masten, Jordan Belka and Moni. Belka also had five rebounds, two assists and two steals through 20. 

On the defensive end, a huge factor for UMD had been its ability to lock down NSU from behind the arc. The Wolves shot just 1-13 from three in the first half, a 7.7% clip. 

Stout Bulldog defense or not, it just seemed as if NSU couldn't be contained in its entirety- and over the first chunk of the second half, the effects of this were felt more and more. By the 16:32 mark, the Wolves had established a new personal-best lead of six at a score of 39-33 courtesy of a Moni layup. A little under a minute later, it was Moni again to push the touchstone to seven at 42-35. The slow-build culminated in quite the climactic moment- a Masten and-one to leave the Wolves' lead at a new overall game-high of nine at 52-43.

The Bulldogs had exactly 12:16 to shift the tides of this contest entirely. It was quite the task- but they got to work. 

Consider Blair a catalyst, his huge three with 11:56 on the clock cutting the trek down to just two scores at 52-46. On the other end, a Masten turnover- and a Joshua Brown bucket in transition to follow. 52-48. Katona capitalizes on an off-the-mark pass from Masten to help feed Mattie Thompson for a fast break bucket. There was now 10:22 on the clock. It'd been less than two minutes since the Bulldogs had been staring up at a huge hill they'd have to scale. Turns out, they're pretty good climbers.

But the work wasn't yet done- and the Wolves had vested interest in shutting the whole operation down. A pair of Masten makes at the line extended NSU's lead back to two scores at 54-50 with 9:28 remaining. The question now became whether this would spark another Wolves run or if the Bulldogs would be able to maintain their momentum. 

It took about a minute for us to find our answer

With 8:24 remaining, Brown grabbed a big defensive rebound. Seven seconds later, he translated that into a bucket. It wasn't just any bucket, though- it gave UMD its first lead in this game since the score had been 13-12, this new incarnation being at 55-54. The Bulldogs had just come all the way back- and they weren't quite done yet. A pair of buckets between Katona and Thompson extended UMD's newfound advantage all the way to two-possessions at 59-54. With just 6:57 remaining in the contest, the Bulldogs were in the driver's seat. Consider the peak reached. 

But the battle was far from won. UMD would play accordingly, working hard to maintain its lead down the stretch, even being able to keep it to two scores on several occasions. The thing is, the Wolves understood that they were still alive, too, albeit on the ropes- and they played with a corresponding intensity. And with just 3:09 left to go, the fruits of NSU's labor could be seen. By this point, UMD's lead was just one point, the score 64-63. This would end up being the scenario again about a minute later at 66-65 with 2:20 remaining.

By this point in this game, just about everything that could've been displayed on a basketball had been displayed- by both teams. Now, with under five minutes to play, it immediately became mute- all that mattered at that point was what would be seen the rest of the way. Clean slate- draw your path to the NSIC Championship on it. 

With 1:56 on the clock, Thompson potted a layup to extend UMD's lead for three at 68-65. Exactly 20 seconds later, it was Brown- in the midst of a monster half- scoring once again to make it five at 70-65. Moni would counter with a jumper on the other end, but there'd be a Bulldog response for that not long after- and it'd come from Brown. With exactly 47 ticks left in the game, Brown stepped back and rifled off a three. Regardless of the outcome of this shot, it'd be a transformative moment in this one, a massive mile marker in its narrative arc. It's the kind of moment that separates success from defeat. "Make moves or get moved"- so goes the mantra of the Bulldogs. This shot could easily prove to determine which side of that equation UMD would fall on on Monday.

Swish.

73-67. A pivotal six-point lead for the Bulldogs with less than a minute on the clock. Consider moves made.

The Wolves just ran out of time. They'd muster one more bucket from Josh Billing to make it 73-69, but by that point, there were only 21 seconds left. When Jack Middleton capitalized on his free throws to push the lead back to six, there were only 16 ticks left. Icing, then cherry- final score 75-69 UMD.

Hard to quantify the importance of Brown's second half within the scope of this game. The junior guard put up 15 points on a whopping 7-8 shooting mark to go along with five big rebounds. Not far behind offensively was Blair, who scored 10 on 3-6 shooting. Shooting, shooting, shooting- can't say that enough. As a unit, the Bulldogs went 20-32 from the field in the final 20 minutes- that's a clip of 62.5%.

It'd been Moni that'd given it everything he had from a scoring perspective for the Wolves in the second half, potting a team-high 13 points on 6-11 shooting. Unfortunately for Moni and company, though, NSU continued to be haunted by a familiar force found in the first frame- struggles from three-point land. The Wolves shot just 2-10 from deep in half number two. Life wasn't much better in the paint, where UMD outscored NSU 34-16 to close out the contest. All-told, the Bulldogs outscored the Wolves 49-38 in the half. Not about how you start, but how you finish. 

And by the end of the contest, it was Blair that sat atop UMD's scoring ranks. The redshirt-senior guard potted 18 points to go along with four rebounds, two assists and two steals. On the back of an electric second-half outing, Brown closed at second with 17 points on 8-13 shooting to couple with eight rebounds. Katona had 15 points on a 6-10 mark to go with team-leading figures of nine boards and five assists. As a team, UMD's strong second half was enough to leave them at an efficiency clip of 54.2% (32-59%) for the game.

Four Wolves ended this one in double-digits. Moni was chief among them with 19 points on a 9-17 effort from the field. Dilling and Masten tied with 13 a pop, Dilling pairing his with six rebounds and four assists while Masten had eight boards. Belka scored 10 points to go with a team-leading nine rebounds. NSU shot just 3-23 from deep in this one. 

UMD will play the winner of MSU Moorhead and Bemidji State for the NSIC Tournament Championship on Tuesday, Feb. 28 at 7:00 p.m.