Box Score DULUTH, Minn. – Minot State University's defense seems to be getting tougher and tougher.

The Beavers flexed their defensive muscles holding Minnesota Duluth to just 34.5 percent shooting and forced 17 turnovers to earn their second Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference road win, knocking off Minnesota Duluth 62-55 Friday at Romano Gymnasium.

“Getting road wins is never easy, so we are very happy. I like where we are right now,” said MISU head coach Matt Murken. “If we defend like that, we can win some games. We really guarded well, held them to just 55 and we can hang our hat on that.”

While the Beavers (3-7 overall, 2-4 NSIC) used defense throughout the game to earn the win, they channeled offense through forward Thomas Korf (So., St. Cloud, Minn.) early in the game. Koft nailed five 3-pointers in the first half and finished with a game-high 19 points.

“Thomas gave us a nice lift early on,” Murken said. “We ran some things through him and he knocked some shots down. We really executed some sets well in the first half.”

The Beavers built a 10-point halftime lead behind Korf and maintained that much of the second half. Duluth (3-7, 1-5) cut the lead to six four times in the second half, but each time Minot State made a play.

“If we rebound a little better, it doesn't get that close as it did in the end,” Murken said. “We have to learn how to finish better. It was an ugly game at times, we hit just 1 of 11 3s in the second half and give up all of those offensive rebounds and we basically tie them in the second half.”

MISU was outrebounded 42-38 and 15-14 on the offensive glass – nearly all of those in the second half – as the Bulldogs held a 20-10 advantage on second chance points. But, Minot State made up for that in turning 17 Duluth turnovers into 19 points. MISU held a 19-2 advantage in points off of turnovers.

“We know we have some things to work on. Good teams are always getting better, but were pretty happy right now,” Murken said. “We need to get back to work tomorrow. We have our work cut out for us, but that's the fun of this league and (NCAA) Division II.”

Minnesota Duluth had four players in double figures as Jake Hottenstine hit 17 to lead the Bulldogs. Brett Ervin added 12 and Calahan Skogman and Reece Zoelle added 11 each. Skogman added seven rebounds in the loss.

E.J. Williams (Jr., G, Raleigh, N.C.) finished with 17 points and three steals for Minot State, joining Korf in double figures. Dominique McDonald (Fr., G, Raleigh, N.C.) added eight points and Kelvin Fraser (Sr., F, Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Adam Randall (So., G, Steele, N.D.) chipped in with six each. Fraser finished with seven rebounds and Chris East (Jr., G, Toronto, Ontario) led the team with nine rebounds.

Minot State travels to St. Cloud State Saturday for a 6 p.m. matchup with the No. 19 ranked Huskies.