THIS WEEKEND
The University of Mary men's basketball team rings in the New Year with a pair of home Northern Sun contests against the University of Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagles and the Bemidji State University Beavers. The Marauders first face UMC on Saturday, January 2, at 6 p.m. The weekend concludes when the Marauders host the Beavers at 4 p.m. on Sunday, January 3. Both games will be played at the McDowell Activity Center.

RECORDS
U-Mary is 10-2 overall and 5-1 in the Northern Sun (3rd overall, 2nd north)
Minnesota Crookston is 3-7 overall and 1-5 in the NSIC (13th overall, 7th north)
Bemidji State is 6-4 overall and 3-3 in the NSIC (7th overall, 4th north)

LAST TIME OUT
U-Mary edged Minot State 72-71 at home in final game before Christmas break
Bemidji State beat travel partner Minnesota Crookston 72-65 on Dec. 18 in both team's final game of 2015

HISTORY LESSON - MARAUDERS v. GOLDEN EAGLES
Since joining the Northern Sun for the 2006-07 season, the Marauders are 14-4 against the Golden Eagles
U-Mary is 8-1 at home and 6-3 at UMC
The Marauders are 6-1 in the last seven outings against the Golden Eagles
Last Meeting
Germain DeCoste tied his career high with 14 points in his final home game and U-Mary defensively dominated Minnesota Crookston 59-50 on Senior Night  (Feb. 14, 2015). Nine Marauders scored in the game with Jaycob Velasco (12) and Chris Mason (10) both posting double digit point totals. U-Mary used a 12-1 run in the 1st half to build an insurmountable 30-18 lead at intermission. Kevin Larson led UMC with 12 points. U-Mary shot 47.2 percent from the floor while holding UMC to a field goal percentage of .373.

HISTORY LESSON - MARAUDERS v. BEAVERS
U-Mary leads the series with BSU 11-8
The series began in 1971 with a 92-87 home win for the Marauders
The two teams played twice in the 1987 season with each school winning at home
Since becoming a member of the NSIC, U-Mary captured the first five meetings before BSU broke through with a home win in the 2009-10 season
After six straight losses to the Beavers, the Marauders swept last year's two-game NSIC series
Last Meeting
U-Mary scored 50 points in the second half and gained a season sweep over Bemidji State with a 75-66 home win on Feb. 13, 2015. Tied at 40-40, Jaycob Velasco and Chris Mason combined to score 13 points in a 15-3 Marauders run that gave U-Mary its largest lead of the night. Velasco scored 22 points, hit four treys and grabbed eight rebounds. Marquealis Edwards chipped in 14 points and 11 rebounds. Shane White led BSU with 12 points and seven rebounds.  

LAST WEEK REWIND
Closing out a run of five games in eight days, the University of Mary held off a late charge by visiting Minot State University in a 72-71 Marauders win to finish off 2015. Bryan Jefferson scored 29 points and hauled down 11 rebounds to pace the Marauders. The junior forward made all 11 free throws and was 9-of-13 from the floor. Jefferson followed a Beavers trey with a pair of free throws with 36 seconds left to provide a 5-point cushion for U-Mary. After another trey by the Beavers, Jefferson hit two more free throws with six seconds left for a 72-68 lead. Far from over, Luis Ricci Maia hit a trey with 0.3 seconds left to pull MSU within 72-71. A turnover by U-Mary gave Minot State one last chance but a heave from 25 feet at the buzzer failed. Brandon Tyler scored 13 points for the Marauders and Marquealis Edwards added 12 and seven rebounds. Tyler Rudolph led MSU with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Maia hit four treys and scored 14 points. The win gives U-Mary a second sweep over Minot State for the first time since 2002.

AGAINST TYPE
One of the top shooting and rebounding teams in NCAA Division II, the Marauders had off nights in both categories against Minot State but still claimed a 72-71 win. Entering the game U-Mary was 3rd nationally in shooting percentage (.521) and 6th in rebounding margin (+10.1). The Marauders shot just .386 while the Beavers were at 50 percent. Also Minot State held a 36-31 rebounding advantage.

OVER AND OUT
After just the sixth of 22 Northern Sun games, the Marauders have completed their season series with travel partner Minot State. U-Mary has yet to play ten of the other 15 NSIC teams this year.

SWEEP
For the first time since the 2001-02 season when both teams played in the Dakota Athletic Conference (DAC 10), U-Mary has swept a season series from Minot State. The annual series was interrupted for several years when the Marauders began playing in the Northern Sun in 2006-07. The annual two-game series resumed in 2012-13 when the Beavers joined the NSIC.

FAST START
With ten wins in 12 games the Marauders are off to the program's best start of U-Mary's NCAA era, which began with the 2006-07 season.

FAST START II
It took the Marauders 12 games this season to reach ten wins. In the last decade the fewest games it took to reach ten wins was 14 games in 2010-11.

FAST START III - NSIC EDITION
With five wins in six games, this is the Marauders best start in Northern Sun play. It took U-Mary seven games to win five in 2009-10.

THREE
Dating back to last year's win at St. Cloud State in the regular season finale, the Marauders have won three straight regular season conference road games, the team's best run since winning eight straight in Jan-Feb. 2011.

FIVE
The Marauders current 5-game winning streak is the program's longest since winning 16 straight in Jan. - Feb. 2011.

FIVE / EIGHT
The Christmas break couldn't have come at a better time for the Marauders. Five games in eight days - including three during finals week - resulted in five wins for the Marauders.

TEN
With ten wins this season the Marauders have already exceeded last year's win total of nine. The last time U-Mary had more than nine wins was 2010-11 when the Marauders finished with 23.

600
Damonta Henry cracked 600 career points in the Marauders win over Presentation College. In 65 career games he has scored 607 points, an average of 9.5 PPG. The junior guard has a chance to score over 1,000 points in his U-Mary career.

500
Marquealis Edwards surpassed 500 career points in the win over Oglala Lakota. The senior guard now has 530 points in 43 games, an average of 12.3 PPG... With a 29 point outburst against Minot State, Bryan Jefferson cracked 500 points. The junior forward is sitting at 506 points in 63 games.

MARAUDERS CRACK D2SIDA ALL-CENTRAL REGION POLL
After receiving votes previously this season, the University of Mary has cracked the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Central Region Media Poll, presented by D2SIDA (Division II Sports Information Directors of America). Released December 21, the Marauders are tied with Northwest Missouri State University for 9th place with 11 points each in the Week 6 poll. Here is the latest Central Region rankings:

Rank        School (First Place Votes)                Record        Votes        Prev.
1.             MSU Moorhead (6)                                    14-1        60            1
2.            Augustana                                                     9-1            54            2
3.            Minnesota State-Mankato                         9-2            47            5    
4.            Missouri Southern                                      8-4        39            7
5.            Arkansas Tech                                              7-2        33            8
6.            Southwestern Oklahoma State                  7-2        27            6    
7.            Minnesota-Duluth                                          8-3        15            T-9
8.            Central Missouri                                          8-3        14            3
T-9.            Northwest Missouri                                      6-4        11            4
T-9.            U-Mary                                                        10-2        11            NR

DOUBLING DOWN
Bryan Jefferson recorded his team-high fourth double double when he dropped 29 points and 11 rebounds in the Marauders 72-71 home win over Minot State. The points were a career-high for the native of Aurora, Ill. Jefferson owns four of the Marauders seven double doubles and two of the team's three 20 point outbursts this season. For his career Jefferson has seven double doubles and has scored 20 or more points four times.

DOWNTOWN
Brandon Tyler has provided the deep threat for the Marauders this season. After seeing limited minutes the last two seasons the senior guard is averaging 11.5 points per game and leads U-Mary with 30 treys. Connecting on 46 percent of his trey attempts, Tyler is 4th in the NSIC with 2.5 treys/game.
 
DEPTH
Ten Marauders have played in at least 11 of 12 games this season. All ten are averaging at least 10 minutes per game.

TRIPLE DOUBLE
One of just six players in NCAA Division II to post a triple double this season, Sr. G Marquealis Edwards recorded U-Mary's first triple double of the school's NCAA era in a 100-76 win over Presentation College on Dec. 15, 2015. The Minneapolis, Minn., native posted 10 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists. Edwards is also the first U-Mary player during the NCAA era to hit double figures in assists.

STAT STUFFER
It's no surprise that Marquealis Edwards would post the Marauders first triple double. He is ranked among Northern Sun leaders in five categories: 1st in steals (2.0/game), 8th in rebounds (6.9/game), 9th in assists (3.6/game), 15th in scoring (14.4/game) and 9th in free throw percentage (.821).

MAKING SHOTS
U-Mary is connecting on 51.1 percent of its field goal attempts, ranking 8th in NCAA Division II and first in the Northern Sun.

POINTS POINTS POINTS
Last season the Marauders scored 77 or more points seven times in 27 games. This year the Marauders have scored 77 or more points nine times in 12 games... U-Mary is averaging 86.6 points per game, 2nd best in the NSIC.

TURNOVER TURNAROUND
After posting 43 combined turnovers in the first two games, U-Mary has given the ball away just 110 times over its next ten games, an average of 11/game. The most turnovers for the Marauders in the last nine games is 16 in the Northern State win while three times the squad has committed nine or fewer.                                           

SUPER SEVEN
Seven Marauders are averaging at least 7.7 points/game. An eighth checks in at 6.3 points/game.  

BOARD GAMES
The Marauders are one of the top rebounding teams in the nation. U-Mary is out-rebounding its opposition by 9.1 rebounds/game, the 15th best figure in NCAA Division II and the top mark in the NSIC.