Men's Basketball | January 29, 2015

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Teams: Minot State vs. Wayne State College | Series: Series tied at 1-1
Date: Friday, Jan. 30, 2015 | Time: 8 p.m. | Site: Minot State Dome
Teams: Minot State vs. Augustana College | Series: Augie leads 2-0
Date: Saturday, Jan. 31, 2015 | Time: 6 p.m. | Site: Minot State Dome

THIS WEEK: Minot State finishes off a four-game home-stand this weekend beginning with Wayne State College on Friday night. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. The following day, the Beavers play host to No. 5 ranked Augustana College for the final game of the weekend. Game time is scheduled for 6 p.m. with a Tigirlily concert slotted in for after the game.

RECORDS: Minot State comes into the week of Jan. 26 with an overall record of 10-10 and a NSIC record of 5-9 after a home weekend against Minnesota Duluth and St. Cloud State. Wayne State begins the week with an overall record of 4-16 and a 1-13 record in the Northern Sun. Augustana comes into the weekend sitting at 19-1 overall and holding a 13-1 record in the Northern Sun.

COACHES CORNER: Minot State's Matt Murken is in his third season as head coach of the Beavers. He's compiled a 22-37 record during his first two seasons with Minot State and is 67-45 throughout his five year head coaching career. In his first season with the MSU, Murken increased the Beavers' win total by six from the previous year including the program's first ever win against a NCAA Division II ranked opponent (68-62, No. 19 St. Cloud State, Jan. 5, 2012). Before his time at Minot State, Murken was the head coach at the University of Jamestown where he compiled and impressive 46-16 overall record and was named Dakota Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in 2012. Brian Dolan is currently in his second season as the head coach at Wayne State. Before moving to Wayne State, Dolan coached at Upper Iowa for seven seasons where he compiled an overall record of 67-127. Tom Billeter is in his 12th season with Augustana College and is the winningest coach in the history of the program. Billeter has led the program to eight straight winning seasons.

FOLLOW THE BEAVERS: The game is broadcast locally on KCJB 910-AM with Scott Kittell calling the play-by-play. Live audio can be accessed online at kcjb.com. MSU provides live video and live stats as well as links to the live audio at msubeavers.com. Minot State Athletics also is active on Facebook, Twitter and You Tube with all feeds accessible at msubeavers.com/stayconnected.

RANKINGS: Neither Minot State nor Wayne State come into the week of Jan. 26 ranked in the NCAA's top 25 poll. Augustana comes in ranked as the No. 5 team in the country.

RECENT HISTORY: Minot State got back on track this past weekend as they were riding a four-game losing streak heading into the weekend. Last Friday the Beavers welcomed Minnesota Duluth to the MSU Dome but were unable to break their losing streak as they dropped a close one 60-56. Heading into halftime all square, the Beavers' 28 percent shooting in the second half caught up to them ultimately resulting in the loss. Michael Pelo (Jr., G, Charleston, Utah) and Everett Robinson (Sr., G, Grand Junction, Colo.) each recorded 14 points in the loss. The following night, MSU got back on the winning side of things as they defeated St. Cloud State 97-89. After a bad shooting performance the night before, the Beavers shot an impressive 50 percent from the field and an even more impressive 70 percent from 3-point range. Robinson once again led the way with 27 points in the game.

NOTING THE WILDCATS: Currently in the midst of one of the most difficult seasons in school history, Wayne State picked up their first conference win of the season last Saturday against the Winona State Warriors, 81-79. The Wildcats got out to an early lead of 41-31 at halftime and managed to weather the storm in the second half to hold onto the close victory. Four different players scored in double figures for Wayne. Before the Wildcats' win on Saturday night, the team had dropped their first 13 games in the NSIC. Patrick Kurth is currently leading the team in scoring, averaging 13.0 ppg.

NOTING THE VIKINGS: Augustana continued to roll this past weekend as they won their 11th and 12th straight games on Friday and Saturday night respectively. Friday night, the Vikings took it to Winona State, winning by 29 points and a final score of 97-68. Casey Schilling led the way with 25 points while Daniel Jansen recorded 20 points for the Vikings. The following night, Augustana received more of a test when they traveled to Fayette, Iowa for a game against Upper Iowa. While the Vikings led by 14 at the half, Upper Iowa outscored the Vikings by three in the second half resulting in a final score of 92-81. Currently, Augustana has three players averaging more than 15.0 ppg on the season.

1,000 POINTS - CHECK: While Thomas Korf (Sr., F, St. Cloud, Minn.) didn't nail a patented three-pointer to break the 1,000 career points mark, 1,000 points is still 1,000 points. Korf became the 14th player in the history of Minot State men's basketball to join the 1,000 points club and he did it on the same night that saw women's basketball player Christina Boag eclipse the 1,000 point mark as well. Korf scored 19 in the team's win over St. Cloud State Saturday night, notably against his hometown university.

LIGHTING THE FIRE: Minot State's Everett Robinson (Sr., G, Grand Junction, Colo.) recorded his third straight double-double Friday night in the Beavers' loss to Minnesota Duluth, but his performance against St. Cloud State was even more impressive. Robinson scored 12 of the Beavers' first 20 points against Duluth, highlighted by a breakaway dunk that forced a Bulldog timeout. By the end of the game, Robinson had compiled 27 points, 7 rebounds, 2 blocks and 3 steals all while missing a decent portioned of the second half with a turned ankle.

REGROUPING QUICKLY: After losing a heartbreaking game to Minnesota Duluth much in part due to the Beavers' worst shooting performance of the season (37 percent), the Beavers bounced back with their third-best shooting performance of the NSIC season the following night against St. Cloud State to come away with a victory. Minot State has shot below 40 percent just three times this season and have lost all three games.

GETTING COMFORTABLE: Sharp-shooter Michael Pelo (Jr., G, Charleston, Utah) has visibly gotten more comfortable as the season has progressed and his stats are backing that up. Pelo has scored in double figures the past six games and he's raised his scoring average from 7.0 ppg to 9.0 ppg in that stretch. His rebounds have also increased from 2.1 to 2.5. The team has shot above 50 percent five times this season and won all five games.

Michael Pelo's recent performances
Opponent                 Date        Points        
MSU Moorhead        1/10         10
Upper Iowa               1/16         17
Winona State           1/17         11
Minnesota Duluth      1/23        14
St. Cloud State         1/24        17

BY THE NUMBERS
3rd: Despite a difficult shooting performance last Friday against Minnesota Duluth, Thomas Korf (Sr., F, St. Cloud, Minn.) still has the third-best three-point shooting percentage in the NSIC (51.3)

57: Augustana's Casey Schilling is shooting 57 percent from the floor this season, the fourth-best field goal percentage in the conference. Two other Vikings are in the top ten for field goal percentage in the conference.

72.5: In terms of MSU's opponents the Beavers have been somewhat unlucky when it comes to the free throw line. Minot State's opponents are shooting 72.5 percent from the free throw line, the fifth-best percentage opponents are shooting in the NSIC.