BEMIDJI, Minn. – It was certainly edge of your seat action. In front of a packed crowd, the Bemidji State University Men's Basketball team went right down to the wire with the University of Sioux Falls before the Cougars escaped with the 76-75 victory in overtime in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action Saturday inside the BSU Gym.

There were certainly many storylines from this action filled thriller. Mohamed Kone went for his second double-double of the season with a team-high 21 points and 11 rebounds. For the ninth time this season, John Sutherland posted a double-double with 18 points and a team-high 14 rebounds. He also led the team with six assists. Dalton Albrecht added 17 points and seven rebounds. Johnny Tennyson gave the Beavers four in double-figures adding 10 points.

For the first time this season, Bemidji State (14-8, 9-7 NSIC) went into overtime. Sioux Falls (16-6, 11-5 NSIC) opened the scoring just nine seconds in on a layup by Matt Cartwright. That was the start of a huge night for Cartwright as he went for a game-high 43 points.

With neither team able to gain separation throughout the first 10 minutes of the opening half, the Beavers used a long ball by Brayden Williams to help ignite an 11-0 run to push the lead to nine. Following Williams' three, he added a jumper before Albrecht and Kone hit back-to-back layups and Sutherland finished the run with a jumper at the 7:03 mark that left BSU looking at the 23-14 advantage.

The Cougars made a push to get as close as one before halftime, but a jumper by Sutherland and a jumper by Kone right before the buzzer gave BSU the 32-27 lead at the break.

Defensively, it was a strong first 20 minutes for the Beavers as they limited the Cougars to just 11-36 (30.6) from the field. BSU connected on 14-29 (48.3) from the field in the first half.

Almost a mirror image to the start of the game, it was a battle for separation with USF closing to within three at 39-36 at the 14:34 mark. That's when a big BSU run followed, this time a 10-0 run pushed the lead back into double-digits. Tennyson scored the first three points of the run and later closed it with a layup at the 10:36 mark. In between those five points, Albrecht drained a triple and Kone a jumper that had BSU in front at 49-36.

Still holding a 50-39 lead, the Cougars clawed their way back in. Following a 7-0 run in just two minutes, the BSU lead was cut to four.

After a tough layup by Sutherland at the 1:23 mark had the lead back out to six, everything looked good for the Beavers. USF answered with a layup and then Cartwright sunk a big three, one of eight on the night, to all-of-a-sudden trim the lead down to one at 61-60 with still 28 seconds to play.

Forced to foul, the Cougars sent Kone to the line. He calmly hit both shots to move the lead back to three at 63-60 with 21 seconds to play.

USF setup a play for, who else but Cartwright. With time ticking down, the Cougars found Cartwright who delivered another long ball to tie the game at 63 with nine seconds to play.

That left enough time for the Beavers to try and attempt a game-winning shot. BSU turned to Kone and he was able to get by his defender and beat the possible double-team. As he went for the layup, his shot just rolled out sending the game to overtime.

Neither team held larger than a two-point lead through the first nearly four minutes of overtime. Kone then hit a big three from the wing to send the crowd into a frenzy at the 1:15 mark to push the advantage to four at 73-69.

USF had an answer with Noah Puetz hitting a triple following an offensive rebound to cut the lead back to one. Sutherland delivered for the Beavers as he was able to get inside for the layup with 40 seconds to play and extend the lead back to 75-72.

The Cougars found Cartwright on the next possession, but his three was off. USF was able to secure the rebound and a foul was called on the following in-bounds play. Cartwright hit both from the line to trim the lead back to one at 75-74 with just 31 seconds to play.

On the ensuing in-bounds pass, the Beavers turned the ball over on a close play near the bench that gave the ball back to USF. Cartwright took over from there, driving inside and hitting the in-close jumper to push the Cougars ahead at 76-75 with 17 seconds to play.

With time ticking down, BSU had one more look at it, but Kone's jumper just missed and the Beavers weren't able to secure the rebound for another try sending Sioux Falls to the 76-75 overtime victory.

BSU went 26-62 (41.9) from the field, 8-20 (40) from three and 15-24 (62.6) at the foul line.

Cartwright's 43-point game paced Sioux Falls and was the second-most in a game this season in the conference. He now owns three of the top-10 highest point totals in a game this season in the NSIC, including the top mark of 45. As a team, the Cougars went 28-77 (36.4) from the field, 11-33 (33.3) from three and 9-10 (90) from the foul line.

The Beavers held the advantage on points in the paint (34-22), while the Cougars used strong advantages on points off turnovers (12-4) and bench points (17-10).

Following the 1-1 conference weekend, the Beavers remain fourth in the NSIC North Division at 9-7. BSU is just two games back of Minnesota Duluth for third (11-5). The Beavers still hold a three-game lead over both Minot State and UMary as the two teams are tied for fifth at 6-10.

Bemidji State will hit the road this coming week to face both of those teams. The Beavers will play at Minot State on Friday starting at 5:30 p.m., before closing the trip at UMary on Saturday beginning at 3:30 p.m.

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).