ABERDEEN, S.D. – Northern State University sophomore forward Collin Pryor scored a career-best 25 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead the Wolves by a scrappy, persistent Jamestown College team 86-80 Friday evening in non-conference basketball action.

The win moves NSU to 3-0 on the young season and marks their first contest in ten days since opening the season with a pair of wins on Nov. 15-16.  Friday's game is considered an exhibition contest for the 5-2 Jimmies, who also take on Bemidji State at home on Monday in exhibition action.

NSU appeared in control to start the night, jumping out to a 14-5 lead and forcing the Jimmies to misfire on their first nine attempts from the field.  Jamestown did not score from anywhere besides the free throw line until the 14:11 point of the half when junior Travis Burley knocked down a two-pointer to make it 10-5.

The Jimmies, however, rebounded to cut the NSU lead to three with under ten minutes to play on a Mark Hoge jumper and kept the Wolves within striking distance through the remainder of the half.  NSU countered with a strong inside game, scoring 24 of their 35 first half points in the paint to just 12 for the Jimmies.  Pryor led that NSU charge, going 5-for-5 from the floor and hitting a pair of free throws to finish the half with 12 points.

JC, however, cut the lead to just five points with 36 seconds left in the half on a 3-point play by junior guard Byron Jones then opened the second stanza with a 10-2 blitzkrieg in the first four minutes to take a 42-39 lead.

That set off a physical back-and-forth battle between the two teams, as they traded the lead seven times and fought through six ties before the Wolves took the lead for good with 4:59 left to go on a driving Tydan Storrusten layup. 

Sophomore newcomer Dustin Tetzlaff added a bucket less than a minute later, then tipped in a missed Tom Parks free throw on the Wolves' next possession to give NSU some breathing room at 69-62.

The Jimmies, however – in stark contrast to the opening moments of the game – made their final six attempts from the field in the final 2:09 of the game, including several driving layups and a pair of three pointers off drive-and-dish plays.

NSU converted on 9 of 11 free throw attempts in that time frame to weather the onslaught.  Storrusten was 4-of-5 in the charity stripe effort and helped seal the deal with a 3-point play of his own with 35 seconds left in the game.

Storrusten finished with 12 points on the night, while Tetzlaff added 11 points before fouling out of the contest.  Junior Bojan Todorovic added 10 points and four rebounds off the bench, while point guard David Lane finished with eight points, eight assists and five boards.

Chris Lawrence scored 21 points to lead three Jimmies in double figures.  Burley added 13 and Jones chipped in 11.

The Wolves are back on the court tomorrow night, taking on Mayville State in their final non-conference tune-up of the season before heading into Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action next weekend.  Tip-off for Saturday's contest is set for 7 p.m. in Wachs Arena.