Box Score

ABERDEEN, S.D. – After a 15-day layoff, the Northern State University men's basketball squad was back on the court Sunday afternoon, and found itself in a fight to the end with the visiting Midland Lutheran College Warriors.  The Wolves, playing in their first game since an exhilarating win over Minnesota State on Dec. 13, managed to outlast the Warriors 77-74 to improve to 10-1 on the season.

The Wolves, ranked 19th in the country in the latest NABC/Division II Coaches Poll, needed a few late-game heroics from junior Mitch Boeck (Arlington, S.D.) and senior Kevin Ratzsch (Bloomington, Ill.) to pull out the victory after the Warriors snagged the lead at 71-70 at the 2:10 mark.  MLC erased an 11-point deficit in just under three minutes, using a 13-4 run capped by an Evan Lamprecht layup to take the lead.

After trading trips to the free throw line, the two squads found themselves tied up at 72-all with less than a minute to play.  Boeck broke the tie with his fifth 3-pointer of the day with 32 seconds showing on the clock, and Ratzsch hit a pair of free throws with eight seconds left to seal the victory.

Boeck, who was 5-for-10 from 3-point range, finished the day with a career-high 23 points, while Ratzsch led all scorers with 31 points.  Junior center Robert Thomas (Mankato, Minn.) had ten points and a game-high nine rebounds before fouling out of the game late in the second half.

NSU's Bojan Todorovic (Pozarevac, Serbia) also fouled out of the game in what proved to be a physical second half of play.  Both teams combined for a total of 28 fouls in the second stanza.

Midland Lutheran came into Sunday's matchup with a 4-11 record after falling 86-64 to Division I University of South Dakota last Sunday.  The Warriors held a 40-26 edge in points in the paint despite being outsized by NSU's Thomas and Todorovic.

The win also marks career victory number 901 for NSU head coach Don Meyer, who is now just one win shy of the NCAA career record held by Bob Knight.

The Wolves will be back in action next weekend, as they resume Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play with road games at Winona State and Upper Iowa on Friday and Saturday, respectively.  NSU returns home on Jan. 10 for a televised match-up against the University of Mary.