Box Score

Evansville, IN.- A season for the record books for UMD men's basketball came to an end in the Elite Eight on Tuesday when the Bulldogs fell 86-68 to Black Hills State. 

 

It proved to be a speedy start for the Bulldogs in this one. After trailing 5-4 with 17:38 to play in the half, UMD ran out on an 8-0 run to secure the game's first two-score lead at 12-5. Back-to-back threes from Drew Blair and Joshua Brown made up the brunt of the stretch, one that took just over a minute to play out. 

 

But it wouldn't take long for the Yellow Jackets to respond. 

 

Over the course of the next two minutes, BHSU would even the score at 12-12 with a 7-0 run of its own. UMD would briefly re-establish control courtesy of a huge and-one effort by Lincoln Meister, but this would be countered right away with a three-ball by Matthew Ragsdale on the other end. At the 12:20 mark, the score read 15-15. 

 

Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, the Yellow Jackets' run didn't cap out there. BHSU put up seven more unanswered points over the next two minutes, leaving it with a seven-point lead at 22-15 with 10:23 to play in the frame. All-told, it was a 17-3 streak dating back to that 12-5 mark. 

 

The Yellow Jackets parlayed the momentum from that span into a strong first half finish. UMD would be able to trim the deficit down to as low as three at 27-24 by the 7:56 mark, but its scoring would stall here. Over the next four minutes, BHSU would take advantage. It ended up being a 14-0 run from the Yellow Jackets, one that left them leading 41-24 with only 3:40 to play in the half. The Bulldogs took four points out of that hill by the frame's end, BHSU's halftime lead sitting at 45-32.

 

UMD's scoring attack was a balanced one through 20 minutes. Charlie Katona led the way with eight points, going 4-6 from the floor. The junior forward also snagged four rebounds. Four Bulldogs finished the frame with five points, those being Brown, Blair, Joshua Strong and Lincoln Meister. Blair also snagged four boards.

 

For a little over four continuous minutes, it was the Strong and Meister show. The two combined for 10-consecutive points, five apiece, to help the Bulldogs push to within five at 27-22. Like, really combined- each Meister's field goals were assisted by Strong, and one of Strong's buckets were dished out by Meister. All-told, Strong closed the first half with a team-leading three assists.

 

Two Yellow Jackets steered the way for BHSU offensively in the first half. Ragsdale was huge, tallying 18 points on 7-10 shooting. Sindou Cisse wasn't far behind with 13 points on a 4-6 effort. As a team, BHSU shot 60.7% from the field and 60% from deep. 

 

The second half opened with each team continuously trading blows, neither being able to make much of a change in the halftime margin. The highest the Yellow Jackets had been able to extend their lead to was 16 at a score of 54-38 with 15:35 left. However, a huge 7-1 Bulldog run capped by a Blair triple was able to trim that down to as low as 10 at 55-45 with 13:44 to play. But the Yellow Jackets weren't discouraged- they answered with a 9-2 run of their own to pump the lead to 17 at 64-47. This one evidently turned into a game of runs, as a 7-0 Bulldog stretch punctuated by a Mattie Thompson bucket had the lead right back down to 10 at 64-54 with 8:41 on the clock.

 

Well… it was briefly a game of runs. What followed was another stalemate akin to how the frame had opened. BHSU replenished its lead to 14 a few times, but the Bulldogs did good work to make sure it never got past that point. Meanwhile, UMD could never quite cut their deficit down to a single digit. With just 4:14 remaining, the Yellow Jacket advantage was still just 13 at 77-64. 

 

But this is when BHSU really broke the seal on this one- and through familiar means. It was yet another 7-0 Yellow Jackets run that extended the team's lead to 20 at 84-64 with only 1:33 to play. Though the Bulldogs continued to fight, this proved to be the nail in the coffin. BHSU ended up taking this one by a score of 86-68.

 

The Bulldogs' highest-volume scorer all season went out with a bang, as Blair led UMD in scoring through the final 20 minutes with 11 points. The guard also had four rebounds and two assists. Brown and Thompson tied for the team lead in rebounds with five while potting six points a pop. 

 

UMD had done standout work holding Joel Scott, one of the premier shooters in the entire country, to a mere three points throughout the first half. Still, Scott ended up finding a way to get his. The senior forward carried his squad offensively in the second frame, scoring 20 of its 41 points on 7-10 shooting

 Three Bulldogs closed this season swansong in double figures. Blair and Katona tied for the team lead in points with 16 a pop, Blair pairing his with a team-leading eight rebounds. Five Bulldogs recorded five boards, those being Austin Andrews, Katona,  Brown and Thompson. Strong held a team-high four assists.

On the other end, Ragsdale parlayed his big first half into a team-high 25 points on 9-12 shooting. Scott's second frame helped him propel to 23 points in the day on an 8-12 effort from the field. Both Ragsdale and Scott had three assists. Ryker Cisarik and Cisse rounded out the list of double-digit Yellow Jackets with 13 points apiece. Cisse also had team-highs in assists (five) and rebounds (six).

Discrepancies in two key team stats help to further tell the story of this one: turnovers and fouls. Ths Bulldogs tallied 14 giveaways (compared to nine for the Yellow Jackets), turnovers BHSU was able to cash in for 26 total points. UMD recorded 19 fouls across the game compared to BHSU's eight. 

 

SEASON SUPERLATIVES

UMD closes the year with a 26-10 record, tying the second-highest amount of wins in program history. To find the Bulldogs' last 26-victory effort, you'd have to go back to the Dale Race-led 1989-90 squad. Race and company would go on to set the school record of 27 wins the following season… perhaps some foreshadowing?

 

It's just one note in a sea of notables to come put of UMD's 2022-23 campaign. The Bulldogs followed their second-straight trip to the NSIC Tournament Championship with their first ever win in NCAA Tournament victory not long after. With that came their second-ever win on this stage… then, their third. If you're going to make history, you might as well start piling it on. It's a level of success that's extended to both Bulldog basketball programs, as UMD became the first NSIC school to send both its men's and women's basketball team to the Elite Eight in the same season. It's something that's only happened 13 times across the entirety of the NCAA.

 

Rest assured- UMD hopes that this is just a start. All five of the Bulldogs' starting five from this year would be eligible to run it back for yet another season. As UMD head coach Justin Wieck noted in today's post-game press conference, "this is a group that's made history year-by-year." Should it continue that trend… it'll be a special time in Duluth this time next year.