MINOT, N.D. – Minot State University jumped out to a 9-2 lead in the first three minutes of the game and never let up, pulling away from a 78-55 win over Minnesota Crookston in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference men's basketball Sunday at the Minot State Dome.

The Beavers never gave UMC breathing room, holding the Golden Eagles to just 39 percent shooting in the game to win their second straight NSIC game and third overall.

"This was a big game for us because we don't have a lot of room for error with our close losses early on," said MSU head coach Matt Murken. "I thought we were pretty good on defense and talked through their screens. We fought through those all night."

Minot State (7-8 overall, 2-6 NSIC) earned its first double figure win in conference and played its first game that finished with a double figure margin in league play since a 12-point loss to No. 4 ranked Minnesota State University Moorhead early in December. MSU lost four straight NSIC games by a total of 12 points and three straight by a total of four points before edging Bemidji State by four Saturday night.

"We felt good coming in," Murken said. "Really, we have felt good despite the close losses because we played pretty good basketball. We are fairly mentally tough because of that. It's a credit to the guys to fight through those losses, not point fingers and keep working hard."

In Sunday's win over UMC (3-9, 1-7), it took MSU a while to shake the Golden Eagles as Crookston cut the early Beavers' lead to just five on a pair of Derrick Redd free throws with six minutes to play.

Minot State, however, closed the half on a 16-6 run started by a free throw by Winston Williams (Sr., F, Plainfield, Ill.), finished by a Chris Pines tip in just before the first half buzzer and peppered with a combined three 3-pointers by Michael Pelo (Sr., G, Charleston, Utah) and Chris Davis (Sr., G, Colorado Springs, Colo.).

"You have to guard well and rebound to get into transition and we did that pretty well," Murken said. "When Chris and Mike are on the wings and our forwards are rim-running, our point guards have a lot of options. We wanted to get into transition and did that for the most part. They are a team that likes to keep things in the 50s and we almost got it to 80."

Rebounding was a huge key in the game as the Beavers manhandled UMC on the boards. Minot State finished with a 47-25 advantage overall and finished with 19 offensive rebounds. MSU almost had more offensive boards than UMC had total and it led to a 25-6 advantage in second-chance points.

"We didn't shoot it particularly well, but we went to the glass," said Murken. "Especially the last 30 minutes. We missed 32 shots but ran down 19 of them, that's pretty impressive."

UMC had three players reach double figures, led by Kobe Critchley's 13. Gable Smith added 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Ben Grygiel chipped in with 12 in the loss.

Minot State again had solid balance offensively as Davis and Tyler Rudolph (So., F, Bismarck, N.D.) finished with 17 points apiece. Davis hit five 3-pointers and pulled down rebounds, while Rudolph finished with seven rebounds – five offensive caroms. Pelo and Williams hit 12 each with Williams caroling 12 rebounds, Nathan Mertens (Jr., G, Devils Lake, N.D.) scored six points and dished out four assists and Channing Reed (Jr., F, Belcourt, N.D.) got his first action as a Beaver, scoring four points and added two rebounds.

The Beavers head out on the road for the first time in the New Year, traveling to Northern State Friday and MSU Moorhead Saturday.

About Minot State
Minot State University is a member of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) and NCAA Division II offering 14 men's and women's varsity intercollegiate athletics programs. The NSIC is a premier NCAA DII, 16-member conference featuring teams in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska and Iowa. The Beavers are the only public NCAA Division II institution in the state of North Dakota.