BISMARCK, N.D. – The University of Mary men's basketball honored its four seniors before the Marauders took to the court in its home finale and a total team effort made sure it was a night for the quartet to remember. A first half surge carried U-Mary to a 59-50 win over the University of Minnesota Crookston in a contest not nearly as close as the final score indicated.
 
Nine different Marauders scored in the game, including three of the four seniors. Forward Germain Decoste tied his career high with 14 points to lead all players in his final game in the McDowell Activity Center. Chris Mason added ten points and Alex Anderson two. While Chad Newell was the only U-Mary senior not to score, he entered the contest late in the game to probably the biggest ovation of the night.
 
Forward Jaycob Velasco contributed 12 points for U-Mary and matched Mason with two made three-pointers in the game. This was the fifth straight double digit game for the junior.
 
Marquealis Edwards, the Marauders leading scorer this season, posted just two points but the junior guard had a team-high eight rebounds and five assists. Bryan Jefferson and Luke Scott both added six points, Isaac Lindquist four and Damonta Henry three.
 
Leading by one, Decoste led the Marauders on a 12-1 tear to grab a 23-11 advantage. The Fort Lauderdale, Fla., native scored the first four points and also had two rebounds during the U-Mary run. The Marauders maintained their double-digit lead until the closing seconds of the game.
 
Decoste sparked one final run in the second half that sealed the win for the Marauders. Leading by 11 points, U-Mary went on an 11-3 run to push its advantage to 57-38 with just over five minutes remaining in the game. Decoste started the skein with a layup. Following a Velasco basket, Decoste brought the house down when he slammed the ball home off an alley-oop pass from Scott.
 
Kevin Larson paced the Golden Eagles with 12 points and eight rebounds. Tyler West added 10 points.
 
U-Mary shot 47.2 percent overall from the floor and made all four free throw attempts. UMC connected on just 37.3 percent of its field goal attempts, including 5-of-21 behind the arc. The Golden Eagles held a 32-27 edge in rebounds but the Marauders has a 5-to-9 advantage in in turnovers.
 
The win gives the two teams a season split of their two-game series. U-Mary moves ahead in the standings to 12^th overall in the Northern Sun and sixth in the NSIC North with a mark of 8-16 overall and 6-14 in league play. UMC slips to 7-17 and 5-15, 13^th overall in the conference standings and 7^th in the NSIC North division.
 
 The Marauders close out the 2014-15 regular season with a road trip to the University of Minnesota Duluth and St. Cloud State on Feb. 20-21.
 
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