Men's Basketball | February 12, 2015

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Teams: Minot State vs Minnesota Crookston | Series: MSU leads 15-5
Date: Friday, Feb. 13, 2015 | Time: 8 p.m. | Site: Minot State Dome
Teams: Minot State vs Bemidji State | Series: BSU leads 8-4
Date: Saturday, Feb. 14, 2015 | Time: 6 p.m. | Site: Minot State Dome

THIS WEEK: Minot State hosts their final two home games of the season this weekend as Minnesota Crookston and Bemidji State visit the Minot State Dome. Friday night the Beavers will take on the Golden Eagles. Game time is set for 8 p.m. The following day Minot State will recognize its three seniors before the 6 p.m. tip-off against Bemidji State.

RECORDS: Minot State comes into the week of Feb. 9 with an overall record of 12-12 and a NSIC record of 7-11 after an away weekend against Concordia St. Paul and Minnesota State. Minnesota Crookston begins the week with an overall record of 7-15 and a 5-13 record in the Northern Sun. Bemidji State comes into the weekend sitting at 8-14 overall and holding a 4-14 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. Dan Weisse is currently in his first year with the Minnesota Crookston men's basketball program. Prior to taking over for the Golden Eagles, Weisse served as an assistant coach for Minnesota State Moorhead and was the director of operations at North Dakota State. Bemidji State is led by Mike Boschee who's in his third year with the Beavers. Boschee has had success in his first two years with the program, winning 18 games both years.

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, Minnesota State and Bemidji State did not receive any votes in the latest top 25 coaches poll released by the NCAA on Feb. 10.

RECENT HISTORY: Minot State began their road trip this past weekend in thrilling fashion when they won a double-overtime contest against Concordia St. Paul. After the Beavers found themselves down by five at the half they fought their way back into the game much in part due to Michael Pelo's (Jr., G, Charleston, Utah) nine second half points. After a back-and-forth first overtime, the Beavers pulled away in the second overtime, outscoring the Golden Bears 14-6 and ultimately taking the game 99-91. Thomas Korf (Sr., F, St. Cloud, Minn.) led the way behind his 9-of-10 shooting from the free throw line. The following night, Minot State's success came to an end when they faced Minnesota State who received votes in the latest top 25 poll. The Beavers led just once in the game up until the 18:54 mark of the first half but the Mavericks seiezed control shortly thereafter and never looked back as they cruised to an 81-62 victory. Lamont Prosser (Sr., F, Fort Wayne, Ind.) led the way for Minot State with 15 points in just 17 minutes.

NOTING THE GOLDEN EAGLES: Minnesota Crookston is currently in one of the toughest stretches of their season as it's lost 9 of its last 10 contests, all NSIC match-ups. This past Friday the Golden Eagles picked up their lone win in that 10 game stretch when they defeated the University of Sioux Falls 73-70 in Crookston. Derrick Redd led the way in the Golden Eagles' win as he dropped a game-high 26 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field. Two other Golden Eagles scored in double figures in the win. The following night, Crookston dropped their 15th game of the season against Southwest Minnesota State. The Mustangs ran away with the game in the second half as they outscored Crookston 42-32.

NOTING THE VISITING BEAVERS: Like Minnesota Crookston, the Bemidji State Beavers are currently in a rough stretch at this point in the season as they've lost 10 of their last 11 contests including their most recent games this past weekend against Southwest Minnesota State and Sioux Falls. Despite being ahead of Southwest Minnesota State by 14 points at the half, the Beavers were unable to close out the game as the Mustangs won the second half by 18 points. Two starters for the Beavers did not score in the game. The following night, Bemidji found itself in another tight game but once again came up on the wrong end of the result. No starters scored in double figures for the Beavers but the team did shoot 19 percent in the contest.

GETTING A QUICK START: Jumping out to a quick lead may be the key for Minot State this Friday when they take on Minnesota Crookston in the first game of the weekend. The Golden Eagles currently average just 59.9 ppg, the fewest amount of points by any team in the Northern Sun. Minot State's average of 74.5 ppg combined with the Golden Eagles lackluster ability to score could result in a positive result for the Beavers.

CLUTH CAREER-HIGH: In Minot State's double-overtime thriller this past Friday against Concordia St. Paul, Thomas Korf (Sr., F, St. Cloud, Minn.) picked the right game to score his career-high 26 points. Korf was only 6-for-14 from the floor but made five three-point field goals and went 9-of-10 from the charity stripe on his way to the career-high. Korf surpassed his previous career-high of 25 points which happened earlier this season against Dickinson State.

SENIOR SEND-OFF: Saturday's game against Bemidji State will be bittersweet for Minot State as the team's three seniors will likely play their final game as Beavers in the MSU Dome. Korf, Robinson and Lamont Prosser (Sr., F, Fort Wayne, Ind.) have been big contributors all year for the Beavers as they're currently the team's top three scorers. All three are averaging 10-plus points for Minot State and they've all started at least 20 games for the Beavers this season.
                                         
Senior top scoring performances            
Player                   Date    Opponent              Points        
Everett Robinson    1/24      St. Cloud State       27
Thomas Korf           2/6      Concordia St. Paul   26
Lamont Prosser     11/23    Mayville State          21

MULTI-DIMENSIONAL GAME: It may not have been the most productive scoring day for Everett Robinson (Sr., G, Grand Junction, Colo.) in Friday's game against Concordia as he scored just six points, seven fewer than his season average, but the senior guard found a way to help the team in various other ways. Robinson recorded a season-best 15 rebounds, including 12 defensive rebounds, and he also recorded a season-best five assists in the win.

BY THE NUMBERS
2: Minot State has two of the top rebounders in the league as both Everett Robinson (Sr., G, Grand Junction, Colo.) and Lamont Prosser (Sr., F, Fort Wayne, Ind.) are top ten rebounders in the NSIC. Robinson averages 7.3 rpg while Prosser averages 5.8 rpg.

4.4: Dominique McDonald (Jr., G, Raleigh, N.C.) is averaging the fifth-most assists in the NSIC this season with 4.4 apg.

48.2: Thomas Korf's (Sr., F, St. Cloud, Minn.) 48.2 percent three-point field goal percentage is good for fourth-best in the conference and Michael Pelo's (Jr., G, Charleston, Utah.) 41.7 percent is good for the seventh-best percentage in the league.