An offensive explosion in the first half gave Minnesota State Moorhead the cushion it needed to withstand a 3-point barrage in the second half.
MSUM exploded for 51 points in the first 20 minutes en route to an 88-69 victory against Minnesota-Crookston on Saturday in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference men's basketball at Alex Nemzek Fieldhouse.
The Dragons (11-7, 8-6 NSIC) have won three of their last four games.
"We liked the first half and we would have liked to play like that in the second half," said MSUM junior guard Tarell Clark, who finished with a team-high 23 points. "It's hard to play two halves of perfect basketball and the first half was pretty close to that."
MSUM shot 56 percent (19 of 34) from the floor and 47 percent (7 of 15) from 3-point range in the first half. Clark had an efficient first half, scoring 14 points on a 5-for-6 shooting from the floor to help the Dragons build a 51-23 halftime lead.
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"The first half we just came out, played hard, tried to set the tone early, we played as a team," Clark said. "A lot of people got touches and we just got everyone involved in the first half."
MSUM took control with a run of 16 consecutive points that started midway through the first half. Junior guard DJ Hamilton scored 10 points during that key stretch. Hamilton scored the final eight points of the surge, including back-to-back 3-pointers. Hamilton capped the rally with a 3-pointer from the right wing that gave MSUM a 35-13 lead with 6 minutes, 5 seconds to play in the first half. Hamilton finished with 21 points.
The Golden Eagles, however, made it interesting midway through the second half.
"You know it's going to be hard to maintain a 28-point lead," MSUM coach Chad Walthall said. "They hit some shots that were some impressive shots."
UMC rallied to cut the MSUM lead into single digits. The Golden Eagles cut the MSUM edge to 66-57 after guard Eric Dearden sank a 3-pointer with 11:10 to play in the second half.
UMC sank 7 of 8 3-point attempts in the first nine minutes of the second half. The Golden Eagles shot 50 percent (9 of 18) from 3-point range in the second half. Dearden finished with a game-high 26 points.
"It was getting kind of scary there for a moment," Clark said. "We just had defense lapse there. They started digging down, but we came back to our senses and got our composure back and finished out the game."
Hamilton helped squelch the UMC rally, scoring five straight points after Dearden's 3-pointer that cut the lead to nine. MSUM maintained its double-digit lead after that stretch.
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Hamilton scored on a slick reverse layup to give MSUM a 71-57 lead with 8:16 remaining.
"It wasn't the way we wanted to finish it, but we won the game," Clark said.
UM-CROOKSTON (6-12, 2-12 NSIC): Dearden 9-18 2-5 26, Krdzalic 4-6 1-2 9, Anderson 1-7 0-0 2, Larsen 3-12 0-0 9, Hendricks 5-9 1-4 11, Servaty 2-3 0-0 6, Boebel 0-0 0-0 0, Rotibi 0-0 0-0 0, Schmidt 1-1 0-0 2, Cary 0-0 0-0 0, Graves 0-0 0-0 0, Brown 2-5 0-0 4. Totals 27-61 4-11 69.
MSU MOORHEAD (11-7, 8-6): Chapman 5-11 2-2 16, Ja. Driscoll 1-8 0-0 3, Clark 9-14 5-8 23, Novak 7-8 0-1 14, Williamson 2-5 1-2 5, Jo. Driscoll 0-0 0-0 0, VanHavermaet 0-1 0-0 0, Thompson 1-1 0-0 2, Hamilton 7-12 4-5 21, Reed 1-1 0-0 2, Olson 1-2 0-2 0. Totals 34-63 12-20 88.
Half: MSUM 51, UMC 23. 3-point goals: UMC 11-25 (Dearden 6-10, Krdzalic 0-1, Anderson 0-2, Larsen 3-7, Servaty 2-3, Brown 0-2), MSUM 8-22 (Chapman 4-8, Ja. Driscoll 1-6, Williamson 0-1, VanHavermaet 0-1, Hamilton 3-6). Total fouls: UMC 19, MSUM 13. Technical foul: Krdzalic, Clark. Rebounds: UMC 29 (Larsen 7), MSUM 35 (Novak 13). Assists: UMC 13 (Dearden 3, Krdzalic 3), MSUM 16 (Chapman 4, Clark 4). Steals: UMC 3 (Krdzalic 2), MSUM 1 (Hamilton 1). Turnovers: UMC 8 (Krdzalic 2, Schmidt 2), MSUM 7 (Clark 3).
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