BEMIDJI, Minn.- The Bemidji State University Beavers saw their second consecutive Saturday night overtime game but were unable to prevail this time as the Marauders escaped the BSU Gymnasium with a 71-69 victory.

The Beavers used career high performances in points by Arron Evans (Sr., PG, Minneapolis, Minn.) and Sergej Baskow (So., F/C, Ludwigsburg, Germany) to push the Marauders into an extra frame. Evans had a game high 19 points on 7-of-13 from the field including 3-of-5 from beyond the arc while Baskow was only 3-of-4 from the field but contributed 11 points from the charity stripe going 11-for-13 to end the game with 18.

The Marauders saw three players in double figures with Geoff West leading the way with 12. Eric Erdmann added 11 and Tate Kick chipped in 10.

The game was close through out as there was 17 times the game was tied and 15 lead changes. The Beavers and Marauders shot almost identical in the game with the Maruaders shooting .448 (26-of-58) compared to the Beavers .447 (21-of-47). The Beavers held the advantage in three point shooting going 6-of-14 for .429 while the Maruaders were 4-of-15 for a .267 shooting percentage.

The game went back and forth for the first 14 minutes with the Beavers Brady Fairbanks (Fr., G/F, Bena, Minn.) sparking a 7-0 run with his three pointer at the 6:27 mark. The last bucket of the Beavers run stretched their lead to what would be a game high six at 24-18 with 5:08 remaining in the first half.

Seth Haake’s (So., Eden Prairie, Minn.) three pointer as time expired brought the Beavers into the lockeroom with a 33-29 lead. The Beavers went 11-of-22 (.500) in the first half compared to Mary’s 11-of-28 (.393).

The second half started with the Marauders scoring the first four points off of a Jordan Engelhardt jumper and a dunk by Eric Erdmann to tie the game at 33-33 with 18:08 remaining in the game. The teams battled back and forth with the Marauders holding onto a lead no larger than five for the majority of the second half.

The Beavers regained the lead for the first time since the 11:19 mark when Evans hit a three pointer to give the Beavers a 56-55 lead with 3:21 remaining in the game. The Marauders regained the lead when when Kick drove the lane and hit a layup to put the score at 56-57 with 2:59 left in the game.

With 1:41 remaining in the game the Marauders West fouled the conferences second leading free throw percentage shooter in Haake who responded by hitting both free throws to give the Beavers a 58-57 lead. Haake was then fouled again by Kick and went to the line to make one of his two free throws and give the Beavers a 59-57 lead with six seconds remaining in the game.

Six seconds proved to be enough time for the Marauders as Erdmann was able to sink a layup as time expired to push the game into overtime with the score being 59-59.

In overtime both teams continued to battle with the Maruaders pushing the score to 69-66 off of two free throws from Danny Sandvig with 25 seconds left. The Beavers stormed back up the court and brought the game back into a tie when Baskow hit a three pointer from the corner with 16 seconds remaining.

That 16 seconds was too much time for the Maruaders as once again Erdmann hit a layup with two seconds remaining to put the dagger in the Beavers.

With the setback, the Beavers record now stands at (5-11; 2-5 NSIC) while the Marauders move to (6-10; 3-5 NSIC).

The Beavers are 0-3 against the Marauders in the two years they have been apart of the NSIC. Bemidji State’s all-time record against the Marauders is now at 1-5.

Bemidji State will hit the road next week as they battle conference foes Upper Iowa on Friday and Winona State Saturday. Both games are scheduled for 8:00 p.m.

The Beavers next home game will be on Feb. 1st as they take on Concordia St. Paul.

Bemidji State University, located in Bemidji, Minn., is an NCAA Division II institution and a member of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC).

--Beavers--