MINOT, N.D. – It took a little while for Minot State University to get things going Saturday night.

The Beavers were sluggish out of the game and a hot-shooting University of Jamestown College team was certainly ready to play.
But as the game wore on, Minot State wore down the opposition to run away from the Jimmies 85-60 in nonconference NCAA Division II men's basketball at the MSU Dome.

"We thought at halftime that in the first half we'd been getting the right shots, but we just hadn't been converting those shots," said MSU head coach Matt Murken. "Our forwards had a lot of opportunities in the lane that we didn't convert. The guards had some open 3 that we didn't make and we just talked about at halftime continuing to get the same shots and shoot them with confidence when you get them."

The Jimmies led by as many as nine early, but MSU closed that quickly and took a one-point halftime lead. The Beavers outscored UJ 54-30 after the break, the second straight night MSU had a big second-half in scoring.

MSU (8-4 overall) continued to get good shots and showed great patience and the ability to hit the open player – especially in the second half – finishing with a season-high 17 assists to pull away.

"You've got to have the things you believe in and stick to them," Murken said. "It's certainly easier when you're seeing some success or harder when you're seeing some failures. Our guys have been for the most part been good about that the last two years. They still believe in that we have a plan and that it's going to pay off for them and we're going to win sooner or later. We're 8-4 right now. It's a good start but we've got a lot of tough basketball games ahead of us."

In Friday's win over the University of Mary, the Beavers hit their first 10 shots from the floor to open up a double-figure lead. It wasn't quite as efficient Saturday, but 3-pointers from Dominique McDonald (Jr., G, Raleigh, N.C.), Nathan Mertens (So., G, Devils Lake, N.D.) and Thomas Korf (Sr., F, St. Cloud, Minn.) wrapped around a Korf floater pushed a 31-30 halftime lead to 44-35 four minutes into the second half.

It ballooned to 19 points seven minutes later on a basket in the paint by Winston Williams (Jr., F, Plainfield, Ill.) and the rout was on. MSU shot 66.7 percent in the second half, hitting 20-of-30 shots including 6-of-14 3-pointers and had 10 assists on the 20 field goals in the second half.

"It was certainly nice to get two wins and sort of jump start us into break," said Murken. "We'll see what happens second semester."

It was MSU's first win over the Jimmies since the Beavers Dakota Athletic Conference days, snapping an eight game-losing streak dating back to the 2007-08 DAC championship game. It was Murken's first in two tries against his former team.

"I wish there were more teams around here and we didn't have to play them, to be honest," he said. "One of the biggest recruits I signed in my life is their captain right now. There's kids on that team that helped us in the national tournament when I was there. There's high character guys on that team."

Korf was brilliant for the Beavers on the weekend, as he hit 10 of 18 3-pointers in two games and scored 18 points Saturday – 12 in the second half – to lead the Beavers. He was 4 of 8 against the Jimmies with three rebounds.

Brequan Tucker was the only player for the Jimmes (8-5), who played the game as an exhibition, to reach double figures as he scored 16 points and added three rebounds. Cedric Smith and Sam Johnson scored nine apiece and Smith paced UJ with six rebounds in the loss.

Along with Korf, Everett Robinson (Sr., G, Grand Junction, Colo.) and Lamont Prosser (Sr., F, Fort Wayne, Ind.) hit for 13 and 12 points respectively. Robinson was again extremely efficient as he went 4-for-4 from the floor, hitting a 3 and all four free throws, grabbed eight rebounds and dished out four assists. Prosser added seven rebounds to his 12 points.

Mertens, McDonald, Williams and Michael Pelo (Jr., G, Charleston, Utah) all scored seven points. McDonald finished with five assists and Mertens added four. The two combined for just two turnovers in the game.

The Beavers are now off until after the New Year when they travel to Bemidji State and Minnesota Crookston Jan. 2 and 3 to get back into NSIC action.