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Seth Bachand scored 19 points, grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds, dished-out a career-best six assists and had a career-best five blocks to help Northern State overcome a slow start and secure a 86-79 win over U-Mary Friday night inside Wachs Arena. Bachand went 6-for-9 from the field and 7-of-8 from the free-throw line in the win and also had a steal to round-out the stat sheet.
The Wolves (7-1, 1-1 NSIC) shot just 33 percent in the first half while Mary (2-4, 0-2 NSIC) hit 48.5 percent of its shots from the floor in the opening half. NSU missed 10 of its first 12 shots to begin the game and trailed 16-4 with 13:44 left to play in the first. The Wolves would eventually find their rhythm and chipped away at Mary's cushion, even taking a two-point lead, 37-35 with 1:06 left in the half. The Marauders' Damonta Henry hit a last second three-pointer to end the half and Northern trailed 40-37 at the break.
Mary went up by as many as seven in the second half, but Northern again chipped away and turned the second half into a back-and-forth battle. A
Spencer Pankonin jumper in the paint gave Northern a 79-78 lead with 2:07 left to play and the Wolves wouldn't look back, closing the game on a 9-1 run.
Northern shot 58.6 percent (17-for-29) in the second half and for the game, made a season-best 12 three-pointers in the win, shooting 37.5 percent from deep. The Marauders shot 49.2 percent for the game and made 6-of-16 (37.5 percent) from beyond the arc. The Wolves held a big advantage at the free throw line, making 20-of-23 (87 percent) at the stripe while Mary hit just 11 at the line.
Both teams were fairly even across the board in the game as Mary held a 30-28 edge in points in the paint and also had a 23-18 advantage in bench scoring. The Wolves held a 21-19 lead in second-chance points and also had a slim 6-4 edge in fast break scoring.
Skye Warwick also had 19 points in the win as he hit four three-pointers for Northern.
Tydan Storrusten added 13 points while
Darin Peterka scored 11 and also had four rebounds and four assists in the win.
Spencer Pankonin led the Wolves' bench with seven points and
Justin Decker added six. Bryan Jefferson led the Marauders with 16 points in the contest.
Both teams recorded 33 rebounds in the game, including 14 on the offensive glass. Northern turned the ball over just eight times while Mary had 10 miscues. However, the Marauders scored 12 points off of Northern turnovers and the Wolves scored eight.
The Wolves avoid their first 0-2 start to conference play since 2009-10 with the win. Northern returns to action Saturday as Minot State comes to town for a 7 p.m. tip.
