CROOKSTON, Minn. – Minot State University's Nathaniel Moore hits an offensive rebound jumper at the buzzer to lift the Beavers to a 75-73 overtime win over Minnesota Crookston in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference men's basketball Friday at Lysaker Gymnasium.

The win helped keep the Beavers (13-14 overall, 9-12 NSIC) in contention for a home playoff game with one conference tilt remaining. MSU, which has the tiebreaker, trails the University of Mary by a game with one to play. Minot State travels to Bemidji State for the season finale while the Marauders play at UMC Saturday.

"At this time of the year, any win is a good win – especially on the road," said MSU head coach Matt Murken. "We needed to keep our focus better on the defensive end of the court. We had a chance to stretch that game out and allowed them to get back into it with some defensive breakdowns.

"Finally, we dug in and got some big stops in the final two minutes of regulation and overtime."

The Beavers looked like they were going to cruise to win No. 13 as they led 38-25 at halftime and stretched that to as many as 17 early in the second half.

But the Golden Eagles (7-19, 3-17) roared back with 5-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc in the second half to outscore MSU 43-30. UMC tied the game at 68 on a layup by Harrison Cleary with 48 seconds to play.

"I'll give Crookston credit, they battled for 45 minutes," Murken said. "It was an exciting game."

Both teams missed opportunities to win the game in regulation.

Neither team mustered much offense in the extra session, but the Beavers took a 73-70 lead after a three-point play by Tyler Rudolph and a driving layup by Nathan Mertens.

UMC tied it at 73 again by Cleary, this time on a 3-pointer with 1:44 to play.

Both teams again missed at opportunities to get the game winner until a final second chance by Moore.

Luis Ricci Maia missed on a 12-footer with about six seconds to play and the ball bounced around before Moore grabbed it and sank a short jumper. The basket eventually caused an eruption from the Beavers bench, but both sides paused to see if the basket counted. The hoop gave MSU its first overtime win in three tries this season.

Cleary was solid for UMC, scoring a team-high 24 points and added five rebounds and four assists. He was 6 for 6 from the line in the loss.
Rudolph was outstanding for MSU, finishing with 32 points, 16 rebounds, five blocked shots and an assist. He hit five 3-pointers and was 12 of 24 from the field overall. It was Rudolph's fourth 30-plus point scoring night of the season, his NSIC-leading 13th double-double of the year and moved to within 14 rebounds of setting the league's single-season rebounding record. He helped MSU to a 40-31 advantage in rebounds.

Moore finished with 12 points off the bench and Russ Davis finished in double figures with 11. Mertens dished out eight more assists and added five points in the win.

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.