Box Score | Box Score (.pdf)

Northern State snapped a two-game skid Saturday night on the road as the Wolves won a wild affair with Minnesota Duluth 80-78 in Romano Gymnasium.

The contest featured 13 ties and 16 lead changes as the two teams battled back-and-forth and answered one another the whole contest. Seth Bachand and Carter Evans led the Wolves with 13 points in the victory. The 13 points was a career-high for Evans as he continues to round into shape after a couple of injuries earlier this season. Bachand also recorded five rebounds Saturday in just 14 minutes of action due to foul trouble.

Evans led a Northern bench that out-scored the UMD bench 31-13 in the contest. Michael Schreiber also chipped in with seven points for the Wolves reserves. Jared Hannigan had 12 points for NSU while Trent Zomer added 11 and Tydan Storrusten scored eight points, pulled down a game-high eight rebounds and also led Northern with three assists.

Skye Warwick had five points and made just 1-of-6 from three-point range, but the NSIC's leading three-point shooter's lone three was the biggest shot of the game as Warwick nailed a deep three with just 25 seconds remaining to give the Wolves a 79-75 lead.

Neither team could gain an edge in the second half as every time one team would look to lengthen the lead, the other would answer with a big shot. Trailing 75-73 with 1:19 left, Evans put the Wolves (14-6, 9-5 NSIC) ahead for good on a three-point play, 76-75. After a Reece Zoelle layup cut the NSU lead to 79-77, Zomer hit one of two free throws to put Northern back up 80-77.

Jordan Reetz was fouled on a three-point attempt with just two seconds left, but after hitting the first, Reetz missed the last two and Evans pulled down the rebound to clinch the wild Wolves victory.

Although the second half was a one or two possession game throughout, the first half saw both teams hold decent leads as Northern got off to a hot start and led by as many as seven at the 15:59 mark, 10-3. UMD (7-11, 5-9 NSIC) would get rolling however and led by eight with just 43 seconds left to go before the break at 42-34. However, a Storrusten three-pointer right before the half cut the Bulldogs' lead to 42-37 going into halftime.

The Wolves shot 51 percent (25-for-49) from the floor and hit 7-of-17 (41.2 percent) from three-point range. Duluth hit 48 percent of its shots (23-for-48) but made just 2-of-12 from deep (16.7 percent). The Bulldogs held an edge at the charity stripe as they hit 30-of-36 (83.3) from the free-throw line while Northern shot 67.6 percent, going 23-for-34.

The Wolves held a big 37-24 advantage in rebounding and had 16 offensive boards on the night, propelling NSU to an 18-11 edge on second-chance points. Northern also held a slight 32-30 edge in points in the paint.

Northern returns home next weekend for the first time since January 11 for a pair of home games. Winona State comes to Aberdeen Friday for an 8 p.m. game. Upper Iowa opens the month of February inside Wachs Arena Saturday for a 6 p.m. tip-off.