Caleb Siwek scored 22 points and Jackson Fowlkes matched his career-high with 16 points as the University of Minnesota Duluth (4-1) Men's Basketball Team used a 14-2 second-half run to defeat Lake Superior State 72-69 Saturday afternoon to conclude play in the 2025 American Family Insurance Classic at Romano Gymnasium.

The Bulldogs trailed the Lakers, 48-54, with 8:00 remaining, before putting together their 14-2 run to go ahead 62-56 with 4:06 to play. Siwek and Fowlkes each had four points during the stretch, with Nick Katona, Mattie Thompson and Noah Paulson contributing two points apiece. 

Paulson finished the game with a career-high 11 points, and Thompson had seven points and a team-best seven rebounds. Katona had five points and two assists despite missing a majority of the first half after picking up his second foul less than three minutes into the game. UMD's bench picked him up for 11 points in the opening stanza.

For the game, the Bulldogs were 25-of-57 (.439) from the field, which included 8-of-25 from three-point range (.320). They also hit 14-of-17 (.824) free throw attempts and were 9-of-11 (.818) from the free throw line in the second half. Lake Superior State (1-3) was 28-of-62 (.452) from the floor, 9-of-23 (.391) from deep and 4-of-7 (.571) from the free throw line. The Lakers were led offensively by Nino Carter-Smith's 24 points.  

In the opening half, the Bulldogs jumped out early, 5-0, and maintained their lead before the Lakers tied it up 15-15 on a deep-ball three pointer from Omar Suleiman. A Fowlkes layup gave the lead back to UMD with just under 10 minutes to play, 20-19. The Bulldogs went into the media timeout ahead by three points thanks to a layup by Wyatt McBeth that capped a 7-2 UMD run. A Paulson three-pointer with 2:14 to play gave the Maroon and Gold a four-point lead, 34-30, and a pair of free throws from Hanson gave the squad its largest lead of the half, 36-30, heading into the locker room. 

UMD was 5-of-13 (.385) from three-point range in the first half, which included two triples from Siwek who led the team with eight points. Kole Hanson and Paulson weren't far behind with seven points a piece to open the game. 

The Bulldogs jumped out to a nine point lead, capped by a Katona three-pointer early in the second half, 46-37, but an 11-0 run from the Lakers put the home team behind by two points, 46-48, at the 12:21 mark. Paulson tied the game at 48-48 with a layup less than a minute later, but Lake Superior State had back-to-back baskets to extend its lead to four points. That is when the home team went on its big run.

The Lakers did manage to close the gap to two points with under a minute to play, but today it was Siwek that hit the dagger three-pointer that eventually secured the win for UMD.  

The Bulldogs open Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) play Tuesday, Nov. 25 when they host Bemidji State at Romano Gymnasium. The opening tip for the league contest is set for 7:30 p.m. and will be broadcast live on My9 Sports