BISMARCK, N.D. – A resilient University of Mary men's basketball team dug deep to grind out a Northen Sun win in the conference home opener for the Marauders. Playing in front of a packed house, Brandon Tyler's free throw with 25 seconds left in the game snapped a tie in the Marauders 60-58 win over Northern State University.
 
Winners in five of their first six games, the Marauders are off to their best start since beginning 5-1 in 2010-11. Additionally U-Mary won its first two Northern Sun games since starting the 2009-10 season 2-0 in league play.
 
A tight contest throughout, the Marauders (5-1 overall, 2-0 NSIC) saw a 4-point advantage turn into a 6-point deficit when Darin Peterka's trey finished off a 13-3 Wolves (4-4, 0-2) run for a 54-48 Northern Sun lead with 3:40 left in the game.
 
Known more for their offense, the Marauders cranked up the defense down the stretch, limiting the Wolves to one field goal in six shots the rest of the night.
 
Very slowly the Marauders began their comeback. Bryan Jefferson connected on two free throws before Brandon Tyler nailed a 3-pointer to pull U-Mary within 54-53 with 2:36 remaining. Ian Smith responded with a layup to push the Wolves lead back to 56-53 with just over two minutes left in the game. It was the final bucket of the night for Northern State.
 
U-Mary missed its next two shots but snared offensive rebounds off both attempts. Jefferson was fouled after the second board and hit two free throws at 1:22 to make the score 56-55.
 
The Wolves expanded the lead to 57-55 when Peterka connected on one of two free throw attempts, keeping the door open for the Marauders.
 
Free throws carried the Marauders the rest of the way. Isaac Lindquist hit 1-of-2 with 58 seconds and Jefferson tied the game at 57-57 with 27 seconds left by also making just one of two attempts at the stripe, hitting the first but missing the second.
 
Another offensive rebound by the Marauders off the Jefferson miss, this time by Tyler, gave U-Mary the chance for the lead and Tyler came through. The senior guard made only the second of two but he pushed the Marauders in front 58-57 and 25 seconds on the clock.
 
With a win in sight, the Marauders continued playing furious defense. Tyler blocked a shot on the blocks out of bounds with 14 seconds left before Marquealis Edwards pulled down a rebound off a missed 3-pointer by Peterka with two seconds left. Edwards knocked down two free throws to build the Marauders advantage to 60-57.
 
With time on the clock the Wolves still had a chance for a tie. However U-Mary fouled DJ Pollard at half court with 1.5 seconds left in the game. Pollard made the first free throw before missing the second on purpose, but the ball went right to Lindquist to snuff out any chance for Northern State to take another shot.
 
In the last 3:40 of the game, the Marauders hauled down nine of 12 possible live ball rebounds.
 
Both teams entered the night averaging over 84 points per game and were among the scoring leaders in the NSIC but neither squad could find any offensive flow. The Marauders shot just 38.5 percent from the field, including a 4-of-17 effort behind the arc, and converted just 16-of-27 free throw attempts. The Wolves finished about the same, connecting on just 36.7 percent of their shots. NSU was 5-of-20 behind the arc but finished a solid 17-of-23 at the line.
 
Edwards scored a game-high 16 points for the Marauders. The senior guard was 6-of-8 from the floor and made all three free throws. He also had six rebounds and four steals. Lindquist points nine points and seven rebounds and Jefferson added nine points and six rebounds.
 
Peterka led Northern State with 13 points and Smith and Pollard added nine each.
 
The Marauders close out their NSIC home weekend doubleheader against #6 MSU Moorhead on Saturday, Dec. 5, at 6 p.m.
 
#marauders#