The University of Minnesota Duluth men's basketball came up short in the first round of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) tournament, falling to the Augustana University Vikings 74-63 at home in Romano Gymnasium.

Final Score: UMD (63) - AU (74)

UMD struggled out of the gate, falling behind 29-16 throughout the opening ten minutes of the game. Seven unanswered points, bookended by a Noah Paulson layup, put the Bulldogs back within striking distance. However, the Vikings would answer back to out-score the Bulldogs 13-3 to end the half at a 42-26 deficit.

Augustana kept widening its lead after intermission, constructing a 44-26 advantage before UMD went on a 7-0 run, finished off by Hanson's layup, to shrink the deficit to 44-33 with 16:49 to go in the contest. The Bulldogs were unable to cut further into the deficit by the end of the game, losing 74-63. UMD took care of business in the paint, recording 22 of its 37 points in the lane.

Bulldog Notes vs. AU

The Bulldogs had three players score in double figures, led by Joshua Brown, who had 18 points and seven rebounds. Charlie Katona tacked on 14 points and Kole Hanson chipped in as well with 11 points.

Mattie Thompson pulled down two offensive rebounds to lead the Bulldog offense, which grabbed 10 boards and turned them into eight second chance points.

The UMD defense was effective at taking away the basketball in Wednesday's game, forcing 13 Viking turnovers while committing 12. Those takeaways turned into 12 points on the other end of the floor. Noah Paulson led the way individually for the Bulldogs with one steal.