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A strong second half by the Northern State men's basketball team helped propel the Wolves to a regular season-ending 73-58 win over Minot State Saturday night in Aberdeen.

The Wolves (18-10, 13-9 NSIC) outscored the Beavers (8-18, 4-18 NSIC) 36-24 in the second half and closed the game on a 24-9 run. Tied at 49-49 with 11:52 to go in the game, the Wolves took control and went on a 24-5 run and led by as many as 19 with 2:33 left to play. The first half was a back-and-forth affair as it featured six ties and eight lead-changes with NSU taking a 37-34 advantage into the locker room.

The win gives Northern its fourth straight heading into next week's NSIC Tournament. Darin Peterka continued his hot five-game stretch for the Wolves as he led the team with 15 points in the game and went 3-for-6 from three-point range. Peterka also had team-highs in rebounds (6), assists (4) and steals (3) in the game.

Seth Bachand added 12 points, two blocks and two steals in the win while Tydan Storrusten had 12 points and three assists. Jared Hannigan chipped in with eight. It was another balanced attack for Northern on the night as all 11 players that saw action scored in the victory. The Northern bench was especially strong, scoring 26 of its 31 points in the first half while the Minot bench scored 10 points.

The Wolves also held big advantages in points in the paint (34-18) and scored 23 points off of 18 Beaver turnovers while Minot scored just eight points on 12 Northern turnovers.

For the game the Wolves shot 48.1 percent (25-for-52) and hit eight three-pointers. Minot State shot 44 percent (22-for-50) and made six from long range. NSU also held a nice edge on the free-throw line as the Wolves went 15-for-19 (78.9 percent) from the stripe as the Beavers went 8-of-12 (66.7 percent). Minot held a 32-27 edge in rebounding.

Northern clinches the fourth seed in the NSIC North Division and will host Augustana Wednesday night at 8 p.m. in the first round of the NSIC Tournament. Augie clinched the fifth seed in the south with its victory at Winona State Saturday. NSU beat the Vikings in an 85-78 thriller a week ago. The winner of Wednesday's contest will face the winner of Minnesota State and Minnesota, Crookston Saturday at 8:30 p.m. down at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls.