MINOT, N.D. – The Bemidji State University Men's Basketball team earned its first playoff berth since the 2019-20 season after defeating Minot State University 71-65 on Friday evening in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play in Minot, N.D. After holding a 20-point lead in the final 10 minutes, Minot State was able to cut the lead to four before Mohamed Kone put the game away with a pair of free throws.
Bemidji State's win puts them at 15-8 overall and 10-7 in NSIC play, while Minot State falls to 9-12 overall and 6-11 in the conference. The Beavers have now won the last three against Minot State and is their first win in Minot since Feb. 15, 2020.
added his name to the three-point scorers after two back-to-back offensive rebounds from BSU. Johnny Tennyson scored his first basket on an off-balanced shot at the free throw line and followed it up with a big block on the other side of the court. The Beavers largest lead was 16 at 33-17 before an MSU six-point run cut it to 10 in the final minutes. Albrecht scored the last basket of the half to give BSU a 35-23 advantage going into halftime.Lowman Jayce poked the ball out for his first steal of the game and followed it up with another BSU three to put them up by 10 at the 12-minute mark. Kone Williams and John Sutherland joined Albrecht with early threes as the Beavers made their first five baskets of the game to account for a 13-4 lead four minutes in.BraydenDalton Albrecht started the scoring off for Bemidji State with a three-pointer 31 seconds in. That gave Albrecht a stretch in which he made 7-8 including last weekend and his first attempt from long range tonight.
leading the way with two. KoneIt was all Bemidji State in the first half. The Beavers shot 14-for-26 (53.8) in the first half from the field, while MSU struggled going 10-for-31 (32.3) in the opening 20 minutes. The big men in Sutherland and Albrecht led the scoring in the first half with nine and eight points, respectively. Bemidji State made six three-pointers in the first 20 minutes of play with
After a quick Minot State bucket 32 seconds into the second half, Bemidji State responded with seven unanswered points. Sutherland tallied the first four points before Albrecht closed the spurt with a triple. Two quick threes from Mason Hedberg helped MSU pull back to within 11 nearly three minutes in. Tennyson became the sixth student-athlete for BSU to make a three when he connected from behind the arc at the 13:49 mark. That capped a 7-0 run that had BSU holding the 49-31 advantage. MSU went on its most efficient roll after going 5-for-6, but traded baskets with BSU so they were only able to trim the deficit to 12 near the midway point. Following that run, BSU responded with a quick 8-0 hit that had the lead out to 20 when Kone sunk his third trey of the game at 63-43. MSU did not go down without a fight pulling within 12 points with under three minutes as Bemidji State began to wind down the clock. After a steal from MSU and a long pass for a Jalen Cook made layup had the lead down to 10 for the first time in the half while the BSU was held scoreless for four minutes. An alley-oop from Williams to Sutherland ended the dry spell with under a minute left to play. After two free throws missed for BSU, MSU's Michael Jok made a three to put Minot State within six with 12 seconds to play. Bemidji State turned the ball over off the in-bounds pass which resulted in a Cook dunk making it a four-point game. Kone iced the game with a pair of free throws ending the game 71-65 for BSU.
Albrecht led Bemidji State with 19 points, making 8-for-13 (61.5) from the field, 2-for-6 from three and made his only free throw. Sutherland and Kone were right behind him with both tallying 17 points. Kone shot 55.6-percent in the game with three triples and Sutherland finished at 50-percent, with one three and the other 14 points in the paint. After having their strong first half, the Beavers could not keep that pace finishing with a still solid 28-for-55 (50.9) from the field. BSU made 10 three-points out of 25 attempts (40) and were 5-8 (62.5) at the charity stripe.
The defense was strong for BSU, holding Camron Dunfee and Jaxon Gunville who both normally average 11 points per game to zero points for the pair. Sutherland and Albrecht both grabbed eight rebounds and Kone was right behind with seven. Tennyson recorded the sole BSU block.
Bemidji State looks to continue this new winning streak as they travel to University of Mary tomorrow (Saturday) for a 3:30 p.m. game. The Marauders are coming off a 84-77 overtime victory over University of Minnesota, Crookston.
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).
