MINOT, N.D. – Minot State University battled No. 13 Minnesota State University Moorhead, but couldn't make a significant second-half run.

The Dragons fended off every push and had too many offensive weapons taking a 71-56 win in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference men's basketball Saturday at the Minot State Dome.

"We've got to play with the intensity level, the activity level and execution level that we had this week," said MSU head coach Matt Murken. "It's frustrating because we lost two games, but I thought we actually played some of our better basketball all year here at home."

The losses come at the hands of a MSUM team that has sprinted out to an 18-1 record this season and Northern State, who is 14-2 overall, with its two losses coming at the hands of the Dragons. Minot State fell to 9-7 overall and 4-6 in NSIC play, while MSUM improved to 9-1 in the conference.

The Beavers did nearly everything it needed to do defensively, holding MSUM to just nine first-half field goals and 24 points but couldn't do enough on the offensive end for the upset. The Beavers held the Dragons to 13.5 points under their scoring average and 27 less than MSUM scored a month ago in a 99-64 win.

After a 24-all tie in the first half, MSUM moved out to a 12-point lead on a 3-pointer by Tyler Vaughan nine minutes into the second half. Minot State never went away but never got full back into the game as the closest the Beavers came was 64-54 on a 3 by Tyler Rudolph (Fr., F, Bismarck, N.D.) late in the game.

But, like the Dragons did all night, Vaughan countered with another triple to push the lead back to 13 on the next possession.

"Both teams just made some tough shots in the second half," Murken said. "That's the thing about good teams – sometimes you're going to guard really well and a guy's going to make a tough shot. Because of that, when you're playing really good teams, you can't have the breakdowns where they do get easy shots. I thought we had a few of those in the second half. They got into a little bit of a rhythm – they're a team that's kind of a rhythm team offensively. When they get going they're very good."

Vaughan, Isaac Sevlie and Jordan Riewer were a three-headed monster for the Dragons, combining for 59 of the team's 71 points. Vaughan scored 21 points, hitting five 3s, while Sevlie added 20 points and five rebounds and Riewer had 18 points, seven boards and five assists in the win.

Thomas Korf (Sr., F, St. Cloud, Minn.) led MSU with 12 points and added three rebounds. Michael Pelo (Jr., G, Charleston, Utah) scored 10 points, while Rudolph added nine points. Everett Robinson (Sr., G, Grand Junction, Colo.) was limited to five points, but had a game-high 10 rebounds, while Nathan Mertens (So., G, Devils Lake, N.D.) scored eight points, dished out five assists and added three rebounds for the Beavers.

"I like the way we're improving," said Murken. "We've just got to continue to stay the course and believe in the process and keep seeing improvement."

Minot State travels to Upper Iowa Friday and Winona State Saturday for its longest road trip of the year.