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The Northern state men's basketball team played one of its best defensive games of the season Saturday night as the Wolves won their fourth-straight game by defeating Bemidji State 75-59 in Wachs Arena.
The 59 points allowed are the second-fewest for Northern (9-2, 4-1 NSIC) this season. The Beavers (6-3, 3-2 NSIC) came into the game averaging 76.5 points per game in league play. NSU also held Bemidji to just 39.5 percent shooting from the floor, a mark that BSU was sixth in the league at coming in shooting 46.6 in NSIC play.
The biggest accomplishment however for the Wolves may have been on the glass as Northern out-rebounded the Beavers 33-23. Bemidji led the conference in rebounding margin at 10.2 coming into Saturday and was third in total rebounding with 39.5 per contest.
Trent Zomer led five Wolves in double figures with 14 points while also pulling down a game-high seven rebounds in the victory.
Tydan Storrusten added 12 points, five rebounds and dished-out six assists in the contest.
Seth Bachand had 13 points and a monster block for Northern while
Michael Schreiber added 10 points and six boards off the bench and
Skye Warwick also added 10 points.
As a team, Northern shot 54.9 percent from the field (28-for-51) and hit 42.9 percent from three-point range (6-for-14). Northern also controlled the paint, out-scoring the Beavers 40-22 inside. The Wolves, like usual also held an edge in bench scoring as the Wolves reserves scored 21 while BSU's had 14. Bemidji's lone advantage on the night came on points off turnovers as BSU held a 14-4 lead on that statistic.
For the second night in-a-row, Northern got off to a great start as the Wolves scored the first eight points of the ballgame and never looked back. Hot shooting propelled NSU to as big as a 21-point lead late in the first half at 38-17 before Bemidji went on a mini run to close-out the half and cut the Northern lead to 38-23 going into the locker room.
The Beavers opened the second half going on a 19-9 run and cut the Northern lead to 47-42 with 12:28 remaining. Five points was as close as the Beavers would get however, as every time they would cut the lead down, NSU would respond with a big bucket.
Zach Noreen led Bemidji with 21 points in the game. The Wolves did a particularly good job defending Brock Lutes who came into the game third in the NSIC in scoring per game at 20.8. Lutes was held to just 1-of-6 shooting and had just five points in the game. The league's leading rebounder, Maxie Rosenbloom pulled down six boards. Rosenbloom averaged 12.8 rebounds per game coming into Saturday.
Northern returns home next Saturday as the Wolves look to avenge their lone conference loss of the season as MSU Moorhead comes to Wachs Arena for a 7 p.m. contest. Moorhead defeated Northern in the NSIC opener Nov. 30 87-76.
