Box Score DULUTH, Minn. – Minot State University kept cutting into a double figure Minnesota Duluth lead but the rally fell short as the Bulldogs held off the Beavers 81-74 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference men's basketball Saturday at Romano Gymnasium.

The Beavers (5-4 overall, 1-4 NSIC) lost for the fourth-straight game after starting the season 5-0.

"We dug ourselves too big of a hole early to be successful again tonight," said MISU head coach Matt Murken. "We didn't defend enough in the first half. I thought we had a little more intensity defensively in the second half and limited some of their opportunities.

"But in the end, we give up 50 percent shooting and that isn't going to get it done. We need to find a way to improve on defense immediately."

Minot State never warmed up completely from the field, shooting 43.4 percent overall after a slow start that saw the Beavers struggle to under 30 percent for much of the first half. MISU never led in the game.

"Offensively, we have a little up and down, but we have been better there overall. So much is dictated by what we do on the defensive end," Murken said. There are not many good teams who just outscore teams, and we have put ourselves in that position. We think we are really close there."

UMD (4-5, 2-3) shot the ball much better as they hovered around 50 percent much of the night. The Bulldogs finished making 30 of 58 field goals.

After the Bulldogs pushed the lead to 17 on a jumper by Reece Zoelle with 16:12 remaining in the game, Minot State went to work cutting it down. MISU got as close as four – 72-68 on a 3-pointer by Dominique McDonald (So., G, Raleigh, N.C.) with 1:53 to play – but UMD answered with a 3 from Justin Byrd 20 seconds later and MISU never got closer.

Zoelle and Peter Crawford led the way for UMD, scoring 17 points apiece. Crawford added five rebounds and five assists. Jordan Reetz scored 15 points and added five rebounds and five assists as well.

Samuel Johnson (Sr., F, Las Vegas, Nev.) paced the Beavers on offense, scoring 16 points. Johnson also pulled down eight rebounds. E.J. Williams (Sr., G, Raleigh, N.C.) added 15 points, while Thomas Korf (Jr., F, St. Cloud, Minn.) scored 12. Lazar Boskovic (Jr., F, Belgrade, Serbia) finished with a game-high nine rebounds and added seven points for MISU.

The Beavers will look to end their four-game skid with the final NSIC matchup of 2013, traveling to rival University of Mary Friday starting at 8 p.m.

– GO BEAVERS –