Aberdeen, S.D. - The Northern State men's basketball team opened up NSIC play with a tough 74-81 loss to MSU Moorhead. This is Northern's third loss of the season, bringing their record to 4-3 overall and 0-1 in the NSIC.
NSU got on the scoreboard first and held a firm lead throughout most of the first half. The Dragons fought back as time expired, but the Wolves were able to secure a slim 35-34 lead going into halftime.
Gabe King was the leading scorer for the Wolves with 12 points, but
Parker Fox was the standout with six of his seven points coming from three hard hitting dunks.
A 3-pointer from Bryce Irsfeld gave the Dragons the lead to start the second half, but
Parker Fox responded with an impressive 3-point play of his own to give the lead right back to the Wolves. The next few minutes saw the lead change a total of seven times as neither team could pull ahead over the other.
However, a few 3-point shots allowed MSU Moorhead to establish a strong 7-point lead half-way through the second half and they didn't look back as they walked away with an 81-74 win over Northern State.
Northern shot just 23.8% from the 3-point line, 44.1% from the floor, and 64.3% from the free throw line. The Wolves scored 18 points off of turnovers, 40 from the paint, and ten from the bench. Northern's largest lead was 24-17 with 8:40 left in the first half.
At the top of the scoreboard for the Wolves was
Gabe King, going 7-of-11 for 18 points and two rebounds. Not far behind was
Parker Fox with 17 points and a team high 75.0% success rate from the foul line.
Tommy Chatman and
Mason Stark both went 5-of-11 from the floor for ten and 11 points respectively. Meanwhile,
Andrew Kallman finished the night with eight points and eight rebounds before fouling out late in the second half.
Cole Dahl and
Jordan Belka rounded out the score sheet from the bench with seven and three points respectively.
Up next, the Wolves come back home to play the Bemidji State Beavers on December 6. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. from Wachs Arena. They then welcome Minnesota Crookston at 6 p.m. on Saturday.
