Box Score

ABERDEEN, S.D. – Northern State University senior Mitch Boeck rattled off 25 points to lead three players in double figures as the Wolves drilled conference foe Concordia University-St. Paul on Friday evening 81-60 to claim their third straight victory and second straight home win.

The win lifts the Wolves, now winners of four of their last five games, to 8-9 on the season and 4-6 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play.  Friday's victory also vaulted NSU another two spots in the league standings, where they now sit in a 3-way tie for ninth.

CU, meanwhile, slipped to 8-9 on the season and an even 5-5 in conference play.  The Golden Bears had won four of their last five games heading into this weekend's action.

Boeck reeled off 17 first-half points to lead an NSU charge that saw the wolves leading at one point by a 45-17 margin.  The first-half flurry included a trio of crowd-raising dunks from redshirt freshman Collin Pryor and true freshman Marko Filipovic. 

Filipovic's slam came with just over five minutes left in the period after both teams batted around a CU missed basket.  NSU's Jordan King finally came up with the loose ball near mid-court, heaving the ball towards NSU's offensive end of the court while falling out of bounds.  A wide-open Filipovic gathered up the pass and slammed home the dunk to bring the crowd to its feet.

That series proved to be a microcosm of the first half.  NSU gathered up rebounds to the tune of 23-18 while forcing CU into 11 turnovers and a 9-for-30 (30 percent) shooting effort from the floor.  The Golden Bears also went 1-for-12 from 3-point territory in the half, allowing the Wolves to take complete control of the game.

NSU opened the second half in much the same fashion, building their lead to as many as 31 points and had a commanding 70-40 edge at the 12:01 mark.  From there, however, the Golden Bears began to clamp down, holding NSU without a field goal for the better part of nine minutes.  CU took advantage of the lull to slowly, but surely chip away at the deficit, cutting the NSU advantage to 15 on back-to-back Craig Heiman treys with 3:45 left in the game. 

For the Golden Bears, however, it was too little, too late.  NSU junior Derek Hoellein finally broke the scoring drought on a give-and-go play with Filipovic, and sophomore Alex Thomas and sophomore Momcilo Latinovic found their way into the lane for easy lay-ups to finish out the contest.

Hoellein finished the game with 18 points on 5-for-9 shooting from long range, while Filipovic also reached double-digit territory with 13 points.  In his third straight start, King just missed a double-double effort, recording a team-best seven rebounds and a career-high 10 assists.

Mike Cunningham led the way with 18 points and six rebounds for CU while Heiman added 15 points, 11 of which came in the second half.

NSU now puts its 3-game streak on the line on Saturday, facing off against third-place St. Cloud State.  The Huskies, who saw their 10-game win streak snapped last Saturday at Minnesota State, Mankato, suffered their second straight loss on Friday in a 76-60 setback at the University of Mary.