BEMIDJI, Minn. – The Bemidji State University Men's Basketball team won its fifth home game in a row after defeating Minnesota State University, Mankato 79-69 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play Saturday evening in the BSU Gymnasium.
John Sutherland scored a career-high 27 points in route to his sixth double-double of the season paired with 10 rebounds.
The Beavers (12-6, 7-5 NSIC) handed the Mavericks (13-5, 7-5 NSIC) their fifth loss of the season. BSU had not defeated MSU since Jan. 2 2021 and not at home since Jan. 20, 2012, where they came out on top 75-67.
Minnesota State started off the with a five-point run by Kyreese Willingham and held Bemidji State scoreless for the first two minutes until Sutherland connected on a layup in the paint. BSU and MSU would trade baskets with Minnesota State holding a five-point lead during the stretch.
Brayden Williams knotted the score all up with a triple, which was his sixth consecutive made three-pointer spanning across three games. The Mavericks responded with back-to-back made threes for their largest run of the half. Sutherland broke up the run with another layup assisted by
Dalton Albrecht. Dawson Rudolph landed a deep ball to give MSU its largest lead of the half at seven at 22-15 approaching the midway point of the opening half.
With under five to play in the first half, Sutherland stripped the ball from Willingham and lobbed a pass to
Mohamed Kone, who slammed in the wide-open dunk to tie the game at 29.
Johnny Tennyson made his first basket as the shot clock was winding down assisted by
RJ Smith to put the Beavers on top by one. Smith then followed it up with a three of his own.
Nearing the end of the first half, BSU started to double team and forced many MSU turnovers. With under a minute left, Williams forced a steal and set up Kone for another dunk that put the Beavers up by six with under a minute to play. Malcom Jones of Minnesota State ended the half with a successful and one going into the half, with BSU holding a three-point edge, 37-34.
Sutherland in the first half of action never left the court and recorded 14 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals. BSU followed its hot hands from the previous game by going 13-for-25 (52.0) from the field, 3-for-7 (42.9) from behind the arc and 8-for-9 (88.9) from the free throw line.
It did not take long for Minnesota State to tie the game up out of the break with a three-pointer. The teams traded baskets and the lead, with six lead changes and four tied scores throughout the second half. With under 10 minutes left in the game, Smith put the Beavers up with back-to-back layups and Minnesota State never saw the lead again after pushing out to the 54-50 advantage.
As the final minutes were coming off the clock, Bemidji State made its free throws to pull ahead to its largest lead of the night at 12 with 22 seconds left on the clock. A pair of free throws from Trevor Moore of Minnesota State in the final seconds ended the scoring and the Beavers finished on top 79-69.
Sutherland set a new high career-high of 27 points in playing all 40 minutes, with 22 points coming in the paint and five free throws. Before tonight, Sutherland's previous high was 26 which occurred twice against the University of Mary on Dec. 30 and the University of Minnesota, Morris on Nov. 18. For the third time this season, two student-athletes have scored 20-plus points in a game. Joining Sutherland was Kone with 20. Smith rounded out the top-three scorers with 15.
Leading the team in rebounds as well was Sutherland with 10 to record his sixth double-double of the season. Sutherland is up to 141 rebounds on the season and is on pace to finish in the top-10 for rebounds in a season for Bemidji State. Kone finished second on the team with seven boards and Smith finished with five.
The Beavers hit the road next weekend as they look to keep climbing the NSIC standings as they travel to face Wayne State College and Augustana University. BSU starts its weekend at Wayne State at 5:30 p.m., on Friday, followed by Augustana at 3:30 p.m., the next day.
For more information on the Bemidji State Men's basketball program, follow the Beavers on Twitter (@BSUBeavers), like them on Facebook (facebook.com/BSUBeavers) or sign up for the TXTUpdates from BSUBeavers.com text-messaging system through the "Multimedia" pull down menu on the main page of BSUBeavers.com.
Located on the shore of Lake Bemidji, Bemidji State University sponsors 15 varsity athletic programs with NCAA Division I men's hockey membership in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association and women's hockey membership in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, while its 13 NCAA Division II programs hold membership in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC).
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