CROOKSTON, Minn. – Junior David Akibo scored a career-high 24 points and tied his career high with 12 rebounds and Tyler Rudolph moved into second place on the Minot State career scoring list with 17 points as the Beavers got an important bounce-back victory with an 80-77 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference win over Minnesota Crookston on Saturday in Lysaker Gymnasium.
 
The Beavers used a 14-0 run to open the second half to forge a 21-point lead and then held off a furious Golden Eagle comeback to notch the road win.
 
Nathaniel Moore made 1-of-2 free throws with nine seconds to play in regulation giving the Beavers an 80-76 lead.
 
Minnesota Crookston's Alan Hodge was fouled with five seconds to play and made 1-of-2 free throws to cut the lead to 80-77. He then stole the inbounds pass, but his game-tying three-point attempt was off the mark and Luis Ricci Maia grabbed the rebound to clinch the victory for the Beavers.
 
Akibo finished the game 9-of-14 from the floor, which included making 4-of-8 from the three-point line, to finish with 24 points which topped his previous career high of 21 points scored earlier this season against Minnesota Moorhead.
 
Rudolph entered the game needing 13 points to pass Henry Milkey for second place on the Minot State career scoring chart and he got that on a layup with 10:31 to play in the second half. Rudolph raised his career scoring total to 1,797 points and needs 30 points to pass Paul Harrell for the top spot on the list.
 
Minot State, which placed five players in double figures in scoring, also received 16 points from Russ Davis, 12 points from Moore and 11 points from Ricci Maia.
 
Minot State, which shot 53.7 percent from the field, improved to 17-3 overall and 11-3 in the NSIC with the wins.
 
Minnesota Crookston, which dropped to 8-12 overall and 5-9 in the NSIC, was led by Harrison Cleary who scored a game-high 34 points.
 
Much like it did on Friday, Minot State fell behind early as the Golden Eagles raced out to a 9-2 lead with 17:05 to play in the opening half.
 
The Beavers quickly responded with an 8-0 run, fueled by five points from Rudolph, to take a 10-9 lead.
 
Minot State used an 8-0 run, which included back-to-back three-pointers by Akibo, to take a 26-17 lead with 6:27 to play in the first.
 
The Beavers held that lead for the remainder of the first half and took a 32-25 lead into the intermission.
 
Minot State opened the second half with a 14-0 run to take a seemingly safe 46-25 lead with 15:15 to play in the game.
 
Minot State held a 66-48 lead with 5:06 to play following a three-pointer by Ricci Maia, but the Golden Eagles wouldn't go away.
 
Minnesota Crookston ripped off a 13-2 run to climb to within 68-61 at the 2:45 mark of the second period.
 
Akibo answered with a three-pointer for the Beavers, but the Golden Eagles put together a 7-1 run to trim the lead to 72-68 with 1:00 to play.
 
Davis and Moore each hit a pair of free throws to push the lead to 76-68, but Cleary hit two free throws and a jumper to cut the MSU lead to 76-72 with 35 seconds to play.
 
Moore hit 3-of-4 free throw attempts, but Cleary and Josh Collins countered with jumpers resulting in a 79-76 Minot State lead with 13 seconds left in regulation.
 
Moore then made 1-of-2 free throws to set up the frantic final seconds.
 
Minot State returns to action on Friday (Jan. 26) when it hosts Winona State at 8 p.m. in an NSIC contest in the MSU Dome. The Beavers will also host Upper Iowa on Saturday (Jan. 27) at 6 p.m. in the dome.