ABERDEEN, S.D. -- The Minot State men's basketball team is back in action after sitting the last week out due to a canceled two-game series against Minnesota State Moorhead. The Beavers travel to Aberdeen, South Dakota to face the No. 2 team in the country Northern State Wolves on Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 4 p.m. 

The Beavers, due to COVID-19 protocols with the MSUM basketball program, had last weekend's home-series canceled at the MSU Dome and have had a week to recharge after playing six straight weeks on the road.

MSU sits in third place within the North Division at 4-2 in conference play and is looking to make some noise this weekend against Northern State which enters the series 10-0 in the conference and 12-0 overall as well as ranked second in the country. 

Minot State sits in 3rd place within the North Division vying for a top-4 spot to qualify for the conference tournament during a season where every single game means that much more. 

Head Coach Matt Murken joined us for his weekly press conference that you can watch by clicking the play button in the image above. Both games this weekend can be watched live on the NSIC Network. 

GAME NOTES

WEEKEND MATCHUP
Minot State men's basketball travels to Northern State to face the Wolves for a big matchup in Aberdeen, South Dakota. The Wolves are fresh off of a two-game sweep over UMary with junior forward Parker Fox scoring 39 points in two games and junior guard Mason Stark scoring 17 on Friday and 24 on Saturday to lead the Wolves past the Marauders 83-76 (2/5) and 70-59 (2/6). Northern State has won 21 games in a row dating back to a loss on Feb. 7 against Sioux Falls (68-61) on the road. NSU has been ranked No. 2 in the country by the National Association of     Basketball Coaches (NABC) while receiving two first-place votes. 

The Beavers have won four in a row and have been led by a different scorer almost every single game. Most recently, Cam'ron Dunfee scored a career-high 27 points on 10-15 from the field, 3-6 from three-point range, and a perfect 4-4 from the free-throw line. Prior to that, Max Cody matched his season-high with 24 points in the first game against the BSU Beavers, he also dished out six assists and shot 9-12 from the field. Melvin Newbern led the way for the Beavers offensively on Jan. 23, as they completed a sweep over Minnesota Crookston, with his career-high 24 points (11-19 FG), while grabbing nine rebounds. The depth of the MSU men's basketball team has led a four-game winning streak that is the most since the team strung together four straight between Jan. 18-31, 2020. 

EYES ON THE PRIZE 
The NSIC / Sanford Health Men's & Women's Basketball Tournament Quarterfinals, Semifinals, and Championships are set to take place Thursday-Sunday, February 25-28 at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  The top teams from each division will make up the eight-team field for the 2021 tournament.

AGAINST THE NORTHERN STATE WOLVES
Minot State is 6-28 all-time against the Northern State Wolves. The longest winning streak for the Beavers was two games on Jan. 30 and Feb. 28, 1990. MSU has dropped 22 straight games against Northern State. The Beavers are 4-15 on the road and 4-23 since joining the conference against the Wolves. The largest margin of victory for Minot State was a 106-68 victory on Jan. 30, 1990, and the Beavers won the first matchup 94-86 on Dec. 6, 1986. The last time these two teams faced off was on Feb. 22, 2020, when Northern State defeated Minot State 67-53 in Aberdeen, S.D. 

1,000-POINT CLUB
Senior guard Max Cody has scored 1,067 career-points after scoring 148 total points so far this season. He posted 34 points over two games against Bemidji State on Jan. 29-30 including 11 total assists. Cody led the team in 2019-20 with 186 assists, he currently sits second all-time with 451 career-assists, looking to surpass Ryan Johnson (1993-03) who holds the school record with 549 career-assists. So far this season, Cody has dished out 50 total assists which leads the team which is second in the NSIC, averaging 5.0 per game. Cody scored 24 points in the second game at SMSU (1/9), which was three points shy of his career-high 27 recorded on Jan. 11, 2020, against Minnesota Duluth. He matched that career-high with 24 points against Bemidji State (1/29) on 9-12 shooting from the field. He has scored in double-digits in nine of 10 games played this season. The senior from Melbourne, Australia is 15th in the NSIC in scoring with 14.8 points per game. 

JUST GETTING STARTED
Junior guard Cam'ron Dunfee scored a career-high 27 points in the second game of a sweep over Bemidji State a couple of weeks again. The transfer from Dawson Community College is second on the team in points per game (13.7) and has scored in double-digits in nine of 10 games played this season. His previous career-high was 16 points on Jan. 9 against Southwest Minnesota State. Dunfee leads the team in field goal percentage (min., 100 shots) with a 48.5 percent marking from the field this season. He has also led the team in three-point attempts with 59 while making a team-high 23 three-pointers. Dunfee is third on the team in steals with 12 for the season. 

Melvin Newbern has been a dynamic addition to the lineup this season as he sits 5th in the NSIC in rebounding with 8.9 per game and has scored in double-digits in four straight games. Newbern dropped a career-high 24 points on Jan. 23 at Minnesota Crookston on 11-19 from the field with nine rebounds. He has posted four double-doubles with his last coming on Jan. 29 in Game 1 against Bemidji State (10 pts, 11 reb.). 

NSIC MARKINGS 
The Beavers are 5th in the NSIC in team defense allowing just 71.7 points per game. MSU would like to stretch its scoring margin out a little bit further as it sits 7th in the conference with a 2.6 posting. The Beavers are third in the conference in shooting as a team (48.8%) and have gone 232-469 so far this season. Northern State is the number one team in the conference in shooting percentage (.509). 

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.