Sioux Falls, S.D.- The University of Minnesota Duluth men's basketball team lost to MSU Moorhead 79-69 in a battle of an NSIC Championship game in the Sanford Pentagon on Tuesday. The loss moves UMD's record to 23-9 overall heading into Selection Sunday for the NCAA Tournament, 

It's five letters long and worth just a few less points: three. And it was the defining word of the first half. 

It didn't take too long for this to become quite evident. By just the 14:51 mark, MSUM held a 16-8 lead- they were already 4-6 from deep. When the Dragons' lead had pushed into double digits at 27-14, that figure was  6-10. By the end of the half, MSUM was 8-15 from three-point land- and their lead was 19 at a score of 47-28. It was an advantage that capped at 21 when a Drew Hagen three-ball had made it 43-22. 

Two Dragons closed the frame in double figures, those being Lorenzo McGhee (16 points) and Dane Zimmer (10 points).

The main offensive engine for the Bulldogs is a traditional three-point threat in his own right: Drew Blair.

Back at the 14:05 mark, the redshirt-senior guard hit a three to trim the deficit down to two possessions at 16-11. He already had nine points on the game. It was only fitting that UMD's first deep-ball of the championship game would help to set a little history, as this placed Blair alone at the top of the Bulldogs' all-time charts for three-pointers made at 242. And while the Stevens Point, Wis. native didn't end up operating much from three-point land the rest of the half, he was doing plenty of his prototypical scoring all the same. Blair finished the first 20 minutes of this one with 18 points- and on 7-14 shooting, no-less. The guard also led the team in rebounds with four. 

And it was Blair that started the brunt of UMD's comeback effort in the second half. MSUM had opened the frame by extending its advantage to a game-high of 23 at 53-30 by the 18:23 mark, courtesy of a Beeninga three. Thirteen seconds later, Blair got to the line. Humble beginnings for a resurgence, but beginnings nonetheless- the guard sank both attempts.

For the next four minutes and change, those in The Pentagon tuned in to the Austin Andrews Show. 

The Eden Prairie, Minn. native was playing like a man on a mission- and he made that known on the stats sheet. With 13:44 to go, Andrews potted a layup to cut the Dragons' lead to 15 at 55-40. That wasn't his first, his second, his third- try the fourth-straight bucket made by the junior forward. A personal eight-point run for Andrews, and all eight of them were pivotal. Time for Blair to tag back in- a monster and-one from the guard trimmed the lead down to 12. It was a Joshua Brown free-throw that was the cherry on top, the score now just 55-44 with 12:18 still to play. The Bulldogs had just run out on a staggering 14-2 stretch to pull themselves right back into this one.

But the next six or so minutes would fall into a kind of stalemate- and that favored the Dragons.

That's because MSUM now had a powerful force on its side- time. So it may have been that a Blair bucket left the Dragons' lead at just 12 at a score of 64-52, but there was only 6:24 remaining for the Bulldogs to work with to really finish the job. MSUM just kept answering UMD buckets, which was enough to keep its double-digit lead alive.

…For the most part, at least. These Bulldogs don't know the meaning of the word die- or at the very least, they wouldn't abide by it. It's a UMD group that kept battling until the bitter end, and by the 1:55 mark, they had a single-digit deficit to show for it. Jack Middleton had just sunk a jumper to make the score 70-62. Dating back from an earlier 69-54 score, it was an 8-1 Bulldog run. 

It was a valiant effort, one that fully cemented the fact that UMD belonged in The Pentagon on Tuesday. Unfortunately, though, MSUM had an answer. The Dragons went on a 6-1 run down the stretch to push their lead back to 13 at 76-63 with just 59 seconds remaining. It only took the Bulldogs exactly 30 seconds to slash the deficit right back down to eight, an effort capped by a Brown layup off of a turnover. Undeniable heart from this UMD team- but there were just 29 seconds remaining. A Trever Kaiser bucket would be the only one scored in that time to leave the final score at 79-69 MSUM. 

Blair picked up right where he left off in the second half, scoring 13 more points to go with three more boards. And what a period it'd been for Andrews, who scored 14 points through the final 20 minutes on a whopping 7-9 mark from the field. The junior forward also grabbed four rebounds. An overall team highlight for the Bulldogs to close the game- better containment of the Dragons' work from deep. MSUM went just 4-12 from behind the arc in the second half. All of this combined to help UMD outscore the Dragons 41-32 in the frame- the halftime hill had just been a little too much to climb.

Blair ended up making the NSIC All-Tournament Team as part of the ceremony to close the game- and he certainly put quite the exclamation point on that resume on Tuesday. The redshirt-senior guard put up a game-high 31 points to go along with a tie for the team high in rebounds with Mattie Thompson at seven. Andrews was the Bulldogs' other double-digit scorer on the night with 14 points on 7-11 shooting to pair with five rebounds. 

McGhee led the Dragons in this one with 20 points on 6-11 shooting to go along with seven rebounds. Beeninga and Gavin Baumgartner each had 17 points, Baumgartner's coming on a 6-12 effort from the field and a 3-5 mark from deep. Dane Zimmer was the last of MSUM's double-digit scorers, closing with a double-double of 13 points (on 5-7 shooting) and 12 rebounds.

Selection Sunday is set for March 5 at 10:00 p.m. CT. Before the NSIC Tournament, UMD slotted in at No. 7 in the NCAA's Central Region Rankings. The Bulldogs' strong outing, culminating in a championship appearance, should do nothing but boost their resume.