Men's Basketball | February 18, 2015

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Teams: Minot State at St. Cloud State | Series: SCSU leads 3-1
Date: Friday, Feb. 20, 2015 | Time: 8 p.m. | Site: Halenbeck Hall
Teams: Minot State at Minnesota Duluth | Series: Series ties at 3
Date: Saturday, Feb. 21, 2015 | Time: 6 p.m. | Site: Romano Gymnasium

THIS WEEK: Minot State travels to the state of Minnesota for its final two games of the regular season. Friday night the Beavers take on the Huskies of St. Cloud State. Game time is set for 8 p.m. The following day Minot State travels to Duluth to take on Minnesota Duluth in the final game of the regular season, notably a game that could have a home playoff game on the line. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m.

RECORDS: Minot State comes into the week of Feb. 9 with an overall record of 14-12 and a NSIC record of 9-11 after a home weekend against Minnesota Crookston and Bemidji State. St. Cloud State begins the week with an overall record of 16-10 and a 12-8 record in the Northern Sun. Minnesota Duluth comes into the weekend sitting at 13-13 overall and holding a 10-10 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. Matt Bowen, like Murken, is in his third season with Minnesota Duluth. Prior to his appointment as head coach for the Bulldogs, Bowen served as the head coach at Bemidji State for six season. Bowne also coached under Bob Knight at Indiana University. Matt Reimer is in his first season as the assistant coach for St. Cloud State. He was a long-time assistant of the program beginning his time at St. Cloud State in 1997.

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: Minot State, St. Cloud State and Minnesota Duluth did not receive any votes in the latest top 25 coaches poll released by the NCAA on Feb. 10.

NOTING THE BEAVERS: This past weekend was a special weekend at home for Minot State for multiple reasons. First, the Beavers honored their three seniors on Saturday's senior night and second, the team picked up a couple of important conference wins against Minnesota Crookston and Bemidji State. Friday, the Beavers came out ready to go as they got out to a 38-25 lead over the Golden Eagles at the half. Minot State was paced by Everett Robinson (Sr., G, Grand Junction, Colo.) who scored 17 points and grab 7 rebounds in the 69-52 win. The following day, Minot State had trouble getting stops against Bemidji State in the first half as the visiting Beavers jumped out to 39-34 halftime lead. Minot State fought its way back though, much in part due to the play of freshman Tyler Rudolph (F, Bismarck, N.D.). The freshman stole the show on senior night as he scored 22 points and picked up 10 rebounds to lead Minot State to an 84-76 victory.

NOTING THE HUSKIES: St. Cloud State had its five-game winning streak come to an end Saturday evening when the Huskies fell to the No. 9 ranked Minnesota State Moorhead Dragons in Moorhead, Minn. After being down just five at halftime, 45-40, the Huskies were unable to contain Jordan Riewer of Moorhead as he led the way with 13 points in the second half of the game resulting in a 94-76 blow out. Jordan Poydras led SCSU with 20 points but shot just 6-of-20 from the field. The previous night, St. Cloud found success against the Northern State Wolves as they pulled out a 92-81 win. Poydras once again led the way with 24 points.

NOTING THE BULLDOGS: Minnesota Duluth is coming off an up-and-down weekend where they faced two of the top teams in the NSIC south division. Friday, the Bulldogs began their weekend road trip with a game against the No. 9 ranked Minnesota State Moorhead. Right from the start, the Bulldogs found themselves down and the Dragons took a 20-point lead with them into the locker room at the half. Six different players scored in double figures against the Bulldogs as MSUM went on to win 89-67. Brett Ervin led Duluth with 14 points. The following night, UMD got off to another slow start as they scored just 15 points in the first half against Northern State and trailed by 14 at halftime. But the Bulldogs fought their way back much in part due to Ervin's 18 second half points. The Bulldogs took the game 67-63.

DOUBLE THE FUN: Minot State's Tyler Rudolph (Fr., F, Bismarck, N.D.) had the game of his career this past Saturday night against Bemidji State as he recorded his first career double-double with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Rudolph's 22 points are the most he's scored in one game for the Beavers and he reached double digit rebounds for the third time this season with his performance on Saturday. He's currently averaging 7.2 ppg and 4.7 rpg.

LATE SEASON SURGE: Minot State seems to be peaking at the right time as it's won five of its last seven games of the season down the stretch. In those five wins, the Beavers have combined to shoot 50.2 percent from the field on 142-of-283 shooting. Minot State has not shot lower than 44 percent in any of the wins. The Beavers shot 41 percent and 40 percent in their two losses in that stretch.

HOME GAME POSSIBILITIES: Minot State sits just one win back of Minnesota Duluth for the fourth spot in the NSIC North, a position that would be the Beavers their first home playoff game since joining the NSIC. MSU needs to win both games this weekend against SCSU and UMD and hope for a U-Mary win against Duluth in order to gain a first round playoff home game. If the Beavers remain in fifth this weekend, they'll travel to Upper Iowa for a first round playoff game. It would be the second time in three years MSU played at UIU if that senario works out. If the Beavers capture a coveted home game, they'll play either Winona State or Southwest Minnesota State.

RECIPE FOR SUCCESS: In both Friday's and Saturday's game this past weekend, four of the five Minot State starters shot over 50 percent from the field resulting in two wins for the Beavers. Lamont Prosser (Sr., F, Fort Wayne, Ind.) showed the highest level of efficiency for Minot State as he went 11-for-12 combined on the weekend and scored a total of 29 points. Nathan Mertens (So., G, Devils Lake, N.D.) went 8 for 10 on the weekend, including matching his season-high of 10 points on Saturday against BSU.

Starters FGs this past weekend            
Player                        FGs         %          Points        
Lamont Prosser           11-12        91.7      29
Nathan Mertens           8-10         80.0      17
Everett Robinson         10-16        62.5      30
Thomas Korf                8-15         53.3      22
Dominique McDonald    3-15         20.0      7

BY THE NUMBERS
7.2: Everett Robinson (Sr., G, Grand Junction, Colo.) continues to be one of the best rebounders in the conference averaging 7.2 rpg. The biggest different, he's the only guard in the top five rebounders in the Northern Sun.

61.2: Minot State shot its second-highest field goal percentage of the season on Saturday against Bemidji State, shooting 61.2 percent from the floor. The Beavers shot 64.3 percent in their first game of the season against South Dakota Mines.

73: Thomas Korf (Sr., F, St. Cloud, Minn.) is currently second in three-point shots made in the Northern Sun with 73. Korf's 49 percent shooting from distance is third-best in the conference.