MSU Athletics

Minot State University men's basketball has been playing intercollegiate games since the 1930s and has fielded a team as far back as the 1914-15 season, the second year in the school's existence. Since that time, the Beavers have compiled an impressive 1,170-934 overall record for a 55.6 winning percentage.

Fifteen men have been the head coach of the Beavers in 100 years as current head coach Matt Murken became the 15th in 2012. Mike Hultz is the all-time wins leader with 194, guiding the Beavers to a 194-159 record from 1999-2010. He broke Herb Parker's record, who finished with a 175-85 record from 1948-1959. Parker's 67.3 winning percentage is third overall as W.D. Allen was 88-27 (76.2 percent) from 1937-46 and F.F. Blume coached the Beavers to a perfect 7-0 in 1922.

MSU has played in five different conferences during its 80-plus years as a team. The Beavers began playing in the North Dakota Intercollegiate Conference and then the North Dakota Collegiate Athletic Conference, winning 21 NDCAC titles. The Beavers first season in the NDIC, 1932-33, was also the university's first title in basketball. MSU also competed in the DAC-10, the Dakota Athletic Conference and now the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.

MSU dominated the early portion of the 1950s, winning titles in 1951, 52, 53 and 55. The 1955 group advanced to the NAIA National Tournament, losing in the first round. It marked the first of five appearances in the NAIA National Championship.

The 1950s also heralded in a golden age of individuals for the MSU team as the university's second all-time leading scorer Henry Milkey dazzled fans and opponents to the tune of 1,792 points from 1953-57, while future college basketball coaching Hall of Famer Dale Brown scored 1,140 points from 53-57.

MSU's next big splash nationally came in 1972 as the Beavers went 22-3 overall, 9-1 in NDCAC play and advanced to the NAIA National Tournament, falling in the first round to Kentucky State. The 1971-72 team was an offensive juggernaut, scoring 90-plus points 13 times and 100-plus points six times, including a 107-86 drubbing of Yankton College (S.D.) for the NAIA District 12 Championship.

The 1971-72 team was also a part of four-straight NDCAC championship teams to begin the decade. MSU won six conference titles in the 1970s. The 1971-72 team won 17-straight games that season, a school-record that still stands.

Paul Harrell sent the 70s out in style as he scored 1,826 points from 1977-1980 to stand as the Beavers' all-time leading scorer.

MSU won three conference titles in the 1980s and its 1986, 1987, and 1988 teams featured three future MSU Athletic Hall of Fame players and three of the top 10 scorers in school history with Rick Hedberg (third all time, 1,652 points), Chris Lamoureux (sixth, 1,382) and Kevin Bohl (eighth 1,347) all played together. Add in future MSU Athletic Hall of Famer John Schaffer and his school-record 774 rebounds and you have a solid team.

The 1990s saw two more conference championships and another trip to the NAIA National Tournament. The 90s also has MSU biggest single-game scoring outburst as Steve Holen exploded for 51 points in 1996.

As MSU moved into the 2000s, the Beavers again rose to national prominence as the 2004-05 team broke the record for wins in a season, going 23-9 to win the DAC-10 regular season and conference tournament championship on its way to another NAIA National Tournament berth.
 
The Beavers peaked at No. 14 in the country that season.

Three years later, CJ DeWitty sent the Beavers back to Branson, Mo., with a buzzer beater in the Dakota Athletic Conference title game, marking the final NAIA national tournament for MSU.

Minot State moved into the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference in 2012 and is now a full member of NCAA Division II. In 2013, MSU knocked off No. 19 ranked St.

Cloud State 68-62 to earn the program's first win over a ranked NCAA DII opponent.

 
Courtesy of Michael Linnell, Minot State University Director of Communications