Box Score
BEMIDJI, Minn. – In a scene reminiscent of the first meeting between the Northern State University Wolves and Bemidji State University – a game which featured 58 personal fouls and 88 combined free throw attempts – the two programs were whistled for 59 personal fouls and combined for 80 attempts from the free throw line in Saturday night's re-match.
This time, however, it was the Wolves who won the battle of the stripe, converting on 39 of 49 of their attempts on the night, including 7 of 8 by junior
David Lane in the final minute of the game to come away with the 84-82 victory. The lone miss in that series was a calculated miss with eight-tenths of a second left on the clock. Lane finished the night with 18 points, all of which came at the line.
The win gave the Wolves back-to-back victories for the first time since winning five straight to open the season. NSU is now 9-10 overall and 5-10 in league play with three wins in their last four games. The Beavers have now dropped six straight and fell to 7-12 overall and 4-11 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference games.
The Wolves were just 20-for-51 (39.2 percent) from the floor throughout the game, a far cry from BSU's 26 of 48 (54.2 percent) effort. NSU, however, won the game at the stripe and on the offensive glass. In addition to their 39 made free throws, which tied an NSIC single-game record, the Wolves got 16 points off of 12 offensive rebounds, further solidifying themselves as one of the top offensive rebounding teams in the league.
Bemidji State took the early lead and stretched it to as many as 12 in the first half. The Wolves cut it to five by halftime, but did not take their first lead until less than eight minutes to go in the game. BSU tied it up with a free throw, but NSU senior
Tom Parks put the Wolves ahead for good with his third trey of the night at the 6:50 mark.
The Beavers got to within one on four occasions the rest of the way. The last of those came on a Lance Rongstad three-pointer with two seconds remaining that cut it to 83-82. BSU then immediately fouled Lane with just under a second remaining, sending him to the line for a pair. Lane made the first of his two trips to make it 84-82, then intentionally missed the second, disallowing the Beavers to set up a last-second play and forcing them to play the rebound.
The Wolves put four of their five starters in double figures, led by sophomore forward
Collin Pryor's 19. Lane and Parks added 18 and 17, respectively, while sophomore
Dustin Tetzlaff just missed his fifth double-double of the year with 16 points and nine rebounds. Five of those boards came on the offensive end of the court.
BSU was led by Rongstad's game-best 22 points before the sophomore fouled out of the contest. Rongstad was one of three BSU players to foul out. Three others ended the night with four personals as the Beavers committed a program-record 33 infractions.
The Wolves return home next weekend for the first of four straight home affairs. NSU will play host to Minnesota Crookston and MSU Moorhead on Friday and Saturday, respectively, before facing off against Augustana and Wayne State the following weekend to close out the home portion of the 2010-11 season. Tip-off for all four games is slated for 8 p.m. following the conclusion of the women's contests.
