MOORHEAD — Minnesota Duluth dominated the final 10 minutes of the first half Friday night at Alex Nemzek Fieldhouse and Minnesota State Moorhead couldn't recover from that haymaker.
The Bulldogs shot nearly 60% in the opening half and scored 43 points to fuel an 87-69 victory against the No. 17-ranked Dragons in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference men's basketball before 2,000 fans.
“If you’re not ready to fight from the jump, it’s hard to beat teams this time of the year," said Dragons head coach Tim Bergstraser.
The Dragons (18-5, 13-4 NSIC) have lost two of their past three games and fell out of first place in the NSIC North Division. Northern State (18-5, 14-3) took over sole possession of first place in the North.
“We’ve been having way too many lapses on that's on me," Bergstraser said. "On top of the mental lapses, we just didn’t have enough fight. Duluth was ready to play. We just didn’t respond to it really well.”
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The Dragons earned a 72-58 victory at Duluth in early January and the Bulldogs returned the favor Friday on MSUM's home court.
“We had to come here and fight like crazy," said UMD head coach Justin Wieck, a former MSUM assistant coach. "They took it to us the last time we played. ... I thought our guys' fight early on was good.”
UMD junior forward Charlie Katona torched the Dragons for 30 points on 12-for-14 shooting from the field. The Bulldogs shot 58% (34 of 59) from the floor and led by as many as 30 points in the second half. In contrast, MSUM shot 37% (22 of 60) from the floor.
“They did a good job defensively. They were forcing us into tough shots," Bergstraser said. “We were forcing too many looks and we were playing too much 1-on-1 ball. When it is one of those games we’ve got to rely on our defense. We couldn’t guard anybody.”
Katona scored 21 points on 9-for-10 shooting from the floor in the opening 20 minutes to spark UMD to a 19-point halftime lead.
The Bulldogs closed the first half on a 23-5 run to build a 43-24 halftime lead. UMD shot 59% (19 of 32) from the floor before halftime, while the Dragons shot 27% (9 of 33) from the field during that same span.
“I thought we handled them pretty well there and obviously they’re going to come with a little more chip on their shoulder," Bergstraser said. "They played with a lot more pop in their step than we did.”
The Dragons cut the UMD lead to 20-19 after a Gabe Myren layup with 10 minutes, 26 seconds remaining in the first half. The Bulldogs countered with 23 of the next 28 points. Katona scored 14 points during that game-changing stretch.
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UMD had 34 points in the paint in the first half.
“Our focus was to try to bury guys inside," Wieck said. "That was our best focused effort of having a game plan and really seeing it pay off for 40 minutes.”
UMD sucked the suspense out of the second half as its lead never dipped below double digits after halftime.
“It was just one of those nights for them," Wieck said. "They are a great team.”
The Dragons host St. Cloud State at 3:30 p.m. Saturday to close out the weekend. The Huskies are coming off a 79-61 loss at league-leading Northern State. Senior guard Lorenzo McGhee paced the Dragons against UMD with 15 points on 5-for-8 shooting from the floor.
“That’s the beauty of our league," Bergstraser said. "You don’t have to play too long to play another opponent. ... We’ve got to get ready for a good St. Cloud team.”
UMD (16-7, 12-5 NSIC): Katona 12-14 5-7 30, Andrews 2-6 0-1 4, Strong 0-1 0-0 0, Middleton 7-11 2-2 17, Blair 5-10 0-0 12, Brown 5-6 2-2 15, Thompson 1-4 0-0 2, Meister 2-5 1-1 5, Watts 0-1 2-2 2, Paulson 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 34-59 12-15 87.
MSUM (18-5, 13-4): Stanley-Williams 0-3 0-0 0, Zimmer 2-5 0-0 4, McGhee 5-8 5-5 15, J. Beeninga 2-12 5-6 11, Baumgartner 3-8 0-0 7, Kinsey 4-10 1-3 10, Myren 3-6 3-4 9, Kaiser 1-2 2-2 5, E. Beeninga 0-0 2-2 2, Johnson 1-2 0-2 3, Hektner 1-2 0-0 3, Hagen 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 22-60 18-24 69.
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Half: UMD 43, MSUM 24. 3-point goals: UMD 7-15 (Katona 1-2, Strong 0-1, Middleton 1-3, Blair 2-3, Brown 3-3, Thompson 0-1, Watts 0-1, Paulson 0-1), MSUM 7-28 (Stanley-Williams 0-3, Zimmer 0-1, McGhee 0-1, J. Beeninga 2-9, Baumgartner 1-3, Kinsey 1-4, Kaiser 1-2, Johnson 1-1, Hektner 1-2, Hagen 0-2). Total fouls: UMD 18, MSUM 18. Rebounds: UMD 36 (Brown 7), MSUM 33 (Kinsey 10). Assists: UMD 12 (Katona 4, Meister 4), MSUM 11 (Baumgartner 5). Turnovers: UMD 8, MSUM 10.
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