BEMIDJI, Minn. – It was the perfect ending to Senior Day for Mohamed Kone. Trailing by a point with 22 seconds left, the Beavers turned to Kone who hit a driving layup with 11 seconds to play to send the Bemidji State University Men's Basketball team to the 88-87 victory over #23 MSU Moorhead in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play inside the BSU Gym on Saturday.

The Beavers honored both Kone and RJ Smith before the game on Senior Day, then Kone fittingly ended the game in style. About midway through the second half, it looked like Bemidji State (17-9, 12-8 NSIC) was set to run away with it.

Dalton Albrecht and Johnny Tennyson combined for five points over a 19-second stretch that pushed the Beavers out to their largest lead of the night of 13, 83-70, with just 7:44 to play. MSU Moorhead (20-6, 15-5 NSIC) responded over the next several minutes to tighten the game up.

Right after BSU stretched the lead to 13, a big call under the basket sent the Dragons to the line. They ended up making 3-4, as there was also a technical foul that was whistled on the Beavers. MSU Moorhead ended up scoring five straight points and eventually the run turned in a 17-3 burst that left the Dragons holding the one-point lead with 22 seconds to play. That setup the dramatic finish with Kone sinking the game-winning shot.

Early on, BSU rolled out to the 7-2 lead three minutes in with Brayden Williams hitting a long ball before John Sutherland and Albrecht added baskets. The Dragons stormed back with a 14-2 run to move ahead 16-9 just over six minutes into the opening half.

In what turned out to be a game of big scoring runs, the Beavers answered back countering with a 10-0 run to regain the lead. Kone started the run hitting a triple, before Smith converted a three-point play. Tennyson then found Sutherland for a fastbreak dunk and Tennyson closed the run with a layup that had BSU looking at the 19-16 advantage.

MSU Moorhead had the lead out to six on several occasions the rest of the half, before another big burst by the Beavers gave them the lead at the break. Trailing 34-28, the Beavers outscored the Dragons 20-8 over the final six-plus minutes to hold a 48-42 lead at the break. Sutherland took over during that stretch nearly accounting for half of the points coming away with nine.

The run continued right into the second half with Kone hitting back-to-back three-pointers to move the lead out to 12 at 54-42. MSU Moorhead fought back to pull to within three before the Beavers reeled off a 13-3 run to push out to their largest lead of the night. Tennyson connected on two big three-pointers and Albrecht added a pair of baskets. That helped setup the exciting finish down the stretch.

For the fifth time this season Albrecht reached 20-plus points as he scored a team-high 22 against the Dragons. He went 10-16 from the field, while adding four rebounds and four assists. Kone reached the 20-point plateau for the 10^th time this season posting 21 points on 8-17 shooting. He made a trio of three-pointers, while dishing out a team-best seven assists. He played all 40 minutes. Sutherland tallied 19 points and seven rebounds. He went 9-14 from the field in 38 minutes. Tennyson came off the bench to reach double figures in scoring with 11 points. He went 4-5 from the field and 3-4 from downtown. Smith was close to a double-double on Senior Day with seven points and a team-high eight rebounds.

BSU shot well from the field making 37-68 (54.4) and went 9-24 (37.5) from three-point range. They went a perfect 5-5 from the foul line. The Beavers held a big 54-40 advantage on points in the paint.

Jacob Beeninga led MSU Moorhead with a game-high 27 points. The Dragons went 29-53 (54.7) from the field, 8-19 (42.1) from three and 21-25 (84) at the foul line.

With the results from tonight, the Beavers remain two games back of Minnesota Duluth for third in the NSIC North Division. The Bulldogs are 14-6 in conference, just one game behind MSU Moorhead at 15-5. The Beavers are 12-8 and have secured at least the fourth spot in the division. Bemidji State will host a first round NSIC Tournament game on Feb. 22.

The win over the Dragons snapped a six-game losing streak in the series as the last victory for the Beavers was on Dec. 7, 2019, claiming the 79-67 victory in Moorhead. It's the first win in Bemidji since Feb. 9, 2018. The last win over a ranked opponent happened just over three years ago when the Beavers defeated No. 21 Augustana in Bemidji by a score of 75-73.

The home stand will continue with Bemidji State facing St. Cloud State this coming Thursday with game time set for 5:30 p.m. The last regular season game of the year will take place next Saturday at Minnesota Duluth with game time set for 1 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).