The University of Minnesota Duluth men's basketball team fell short in its first historic Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) matchup with the University of Jamestown, falling 71-70 with two time-expiring free throws.
Noah Paulson led the scoring effort for UMD by double digits with a career-high 28 points, going 61.5% (8-13) from the field, 91.7% (11-12) from the free throw line, and making his lone three-point shot. He also tallied one assist, one block, and seven rebounds (four offensive) to round out a dominant outing. Following behind was
Kole Hanson with 13 points.
The first half saw the two teams score evenly for the first four minutes until a free throw from
Mattie Thompson started a 5-0 scoring run to push the Bulldogs to an 11-6 lead. After that, the Jimmies chipped the lead away on an 11-4 scoring run until the 10-minute mark, which broke past UMD for the duration of the half. In the final ten minutes of the half, Jamestown pulled away by double digits on a 24-13 run. The largest factor hampering the Bulldog scoring effort in the first half was three-pointers, where the team only made one of 12 attempts (8.3%).
The first five minutes of the second half saw Paulson,
Jackson Fowlkes,
Mattie Thompson, and
Nick Katona combine for a 14-5 scoring run to get within three points of the Jimmies at 43-40. The rest of the half saw a 27-24 run by the Bulldogs to tie the game with just under two minutes to go. A three-pointer from Hanson with a minute remaining looked to be the game decider, but a foul by
Peyton Rogers in the final seconds gave Ford Okehi the game-winning free throws with time expired.
Overall, the team shot 37.7% (23-61) from the field, 29.4% (5-17) beyond the arc, and 79.2% (19-24) from the free throw line. The team suffered from one of its lowest three-point shooting rates in the first half, only making one of twelve attempts. The team earned 35 rebounds to the Jimmies' 37, with Paulson and Katona each earning seven.
The Bulldogs return to Romano Gymnasium on Thursday to host Minot State University. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m.
