St. Cloud, Minn. – The Northern State University men's basketball team (20-6, 16-4 NSIC) cruised to a third straight win Saturday night over St. Cloud State (13-13, 10-10 NSIC) by a score of 88-68.
 
One day removed from Gabe King's career best performance, it was once again Parker Fox's turn to lead his team to victory. Fox went 10-of-14 for 26 points, while also grabbing seven rebounds and adding another six blocked shots.
 
Northern started the game with an exclamation as a no look pass from Mason Stark to Parker Fox turned into a 3-point play. The fancy start kicked off a 7-0 run for the Wolves, setting the tone for the rest of the night.
 
The Huskies put together a good run to close the gap, but Northern turned on the afterburners soon after. Fox in particular was having himself a game. By the end of the first half he had already cashed in 17 points, sending NSU to the locker room with a 50-35 lead.
 
The second half began with more of the same as Fox slammed home a stylish reverse dunk followed by a 3-point play to extend the Wolves' advantage to 18. Northern was able to manage the double-digit lead for most of the first half, consistently shooting well and responding to the Huskies' excellent 3-point shooting.
 
With under two minutes remaining in regulation the Wolves had their biggest lead of the night, allowing them to send in the bench players to close out the win. The victory guarantees a first-place finish in the North Division with just two homes games remaining before the NSIC Tournament.
 
Northern shot 53.4% from the floor, 36.4% from beyond the arc and 94.7% from the foul line. They tallied 40 points from the paint, 18 points from the bench and 10 points off of turnovers. On defense, the Wolves limited the Huskies to 38.2% from the floor and 36.8% from the 3-point line.
 
Leading the team in scoring was Parker Fox with 26, closely followed by Andrew Kallman who went 6-of-9 for 19 points. Also scoring double digits was Tommy Chatman, cashing in 15 while tying his career high in rebounds with six.
 
Leading the team off the bench was Cole Dahl with nine points, just ahead of Jordan Belka and Mason Stark who each scored six points. Rounding out the scoreboard was Gabe King and Gus Reede with four and three points respectively.
 
The Wolves will finish out their season with a two game homestand against the University of Mary and Minot State. Tip-off for the first game against U-Mary is set for 7:30 p.m. on February 21 from Wachs Arena.