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ABERDEEN, S.D. – For the second straight game, the Northern State Wolves hit a game-winning shot as time expired, this one coming in the form of Alex Thomas' fifth three-pointer of the night that gave NSU the hard-fought 80-77 win over the visiting Golden Eagles of Minnesota, Crookston Saturday evening in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference basketball action.
 
With the game tied and 31 seconds showing on the clock, the Golden Eagles came out of a timeout and ran the clock down under ten seconds.  As UMC tried to drive the ball inside, Thomas swatted the ball away, picked it up and drilled the game-winner over UMC's Justin Rake, sending the crowd of 3,554 into a frenzy.
 
NSU improves to 8-4 overall and 4-4 in NSIC play with their third straight win of the new year.  UMC falls to 4-8 overall and is still looking for its first conference victory at 0-8 in the loop.
 
The NSU win capped a back-and-forth affair that featured a whopping 13 ties and 20 lead changes.  The two teams also combined for 45 personal fouls, including a flagrant in the first half and a technical in the second.
 
Thomas, who also had a three-point buzzer beater against Butler in exhibition play, finished the night with a career-high 23 points, besting his previous best of 18.  The lone senior on the NSU squad, he finished 7-for-15 from the floor including 5-for-10 from long range while also snagging two rebounds (both offensive) and five steals.
 
The performance led four NSU players in double figures and helped offset a 29-point effort from UMC's Jacolby Anderson, who was a stellar 12-for-17 shooting for the Golden Eagles.  Anderson scored eight of the Golden Eagles' final 12 points of the game, including a fall-away jumper that gave UMC their final lead of the game 77-75 with 1:13 left to go.
 
Thomas then snagged an offensive rebound at the other end and sank two free throws after getting fouled by UMC's Almir Krdzalic, tying things up at 77-all.  NSU burned a time-out to set up a defensive strategy, followed by a Golden Eagle timeout after crossing the ball past half court.
 
That set up the final sequence, with Thomas stripping away the ball, dribbling to the other end and firing off the game-winner from the right wing.
 
Junior forward Collin Pryor added 16 points and six rebounds for the Wolves, followed by Dustin Tetzlaff with 11.  Tetzlaff was just 2-for-8 from the field, but drained 7 of 7 free throw attempts to reach double figures.  Jared Hannigan had ten points, five boards and three assists.
 
For the Golden Eagles, Akeem Cubie finished with 17 points before fouling out of the contest with 4:25 left to play.  Broderick Schmidt and Keith Newberry finished with ten points apiece, but the Golden Eagles got just seven points off the bench in the loss.
 
NSU was 22-for-52 from the field and 7-for-15 from long range, while going 29-for-35 (82.9 percent) from the charity stripe.
 
The Wolves will look to continue their win streak tomorrow afternoon against 19^th-ranked MSU Moorhead.  The Dragons suffered their first loss of the season on Saturday, falling 72-51 at the hands of the University of Mary.  Game time is set for 4 p.m. following the conclusion of the women's contest in Wachs Arena.