Northern State trailed by as many as 21 points with 16:53 left to play in the game before staging a huge comeback to pick-up a 58-50 win over Minnesota Duluth Friday night on the road in NSIC men's basketball action.
Trailing 40-19, the Wolves (9-1, 3-1 NSIC) closed the game on a 39-10 run to escape Duluth with the victory, improving their record to 6-1 when trailing at the half. NSU put the clamps down defensively the final 17 minutes of the game, holding UMD (5-5, 2-2 NSIC) to just 4-of-22 shooting from the field down the stretch and also forced seven turnovers over that time span.
Both teams struggled to shoot in the game as Northern shot a season-low 35.6 percent from the field (16-of-45) while the Bulldogs shot just 34 percent (20-for-59) in the contest. The Wolves also shot just 5-for-21 (23.8 percent) from three-point range while UMD went 5-of-25 (20 percent). The big difference came at the free-throw line as NSU made 21-of-28 at the stripe while Duluth had just five attempts, making all of them.
Both teams scored 13 points off of 14 turnovers in the game with UMD holding a 28-18 edge in points in the paint and also a 13-7 advantage in second-chance points. The Northern bench was big in the victory as the Wolves reserves held a 20-2 edge in bench points over UMD. NSU also out-rebounded the Bulldogs 36-35.
Darin Peterka led the Wolves with 12 points in the game while
DJ Pollard and
Tydan Storrusten each scored 11 and went a combined 17-of-20 from the free-throw line in the win.
Seth Bachand added eight points and, along with
Mitch White, grabbed a team-high seven rebounds. Bachand also had a pair of blocks on the night.
Northern shot just 28.6 percent from the field in the first half and trailed 29-19 at halftime.
NSU returns to action Saturday as it travels to face St. Cloud State in a 6 p.m. contest from Hallenbeck Hall.
