Box Score MINOT, N.D. – Minot State University's E.J. Williams (Sr., G, Raleigh, N.C.) hit six straight free throws and scored his team's final eight points to hold off South Dakota Mines 63-57 in nonconference NCAA Division II men's basketball Friday at the Minot State Dome.

Williams scored a game-high 24 points to pace the Beavers hitting 11 of 12 free throws to propel Minot State (1-0 overall) its first win of the season in the team's opener.

"With free throws, it's about practice and bringing that practice routine into the game," said Williams. "That last two minutes was Minot State basketball, and I am happy to come out on top tonight."

Neither team lit any fires offensively, but Minot State was able to capitalize from the free throw line, outscoring the Hardrockers 25-17 from the stripe, mainly behind Williams and Adam Randall's (Jr., G, Steele, N.D.) 4-for-5 performance. Minot State held Mines to just 32.1 percent shooting, including an 8-for-27 mark in the first half.

"It definitely wasn't pretty at times," said MISU head coach Matt Murken. "I thought we played well in spurts, but we kind of made the mistakes to let them back in the game. We got our lead up to about 10 or 12 there and then we kind of went through a lull. To start the second half, we played great defensively but between turnovers and missed free throws we allowed them to hang around to make a high contested basketball game for 40 minutes."

The biggest lead for Minot State was 11 with 9:31 to play, but the Hardrockers (0-1) outscored the Beavers 9-0 behind seven points from Calvin Thomas in just over two minutes to make it a game down the stretch.

The Beavers got two big 3s late to keep the lead however. The first was a three-point play by Dan Yale (So., G, Berthold, N.D.) on an offensive rebound with just over five minutes to play to push the lead back to four at 50-46. The second came on a 3-pointer from Thomas Korf (Jr., F, St. Cloud, Minn.) on a pass from Randall with just 2:58 to play.  

"I thought our effort was great but our execution was average at the very best," Murken said. "But, the bottom line we came out with a win."

Lance Kilburn and Caleb Shockman finished with 12 points apiece to lead Mines in scoring. Kilburn dished out four assists as well and Shockman led the Hardrockers with four rebounds.
Minot State had a huge advantage on the glass as the Beavers outrebounded SDM 35-23 and held a 12-3 advantage on offensive rebounds.

Korf joined Williams in double figures with 10 points, while Chris East (Sr., F, Toronto, Ontario) and Randall added eight apiece. East finished with a game-high 11 rebounds.

Minot State continues nonconference play Tuesday as they play host to former Dakota Athletic Conference rival Dickinson State at 7 p.m. at the Dome.