THIS WEEKEND
Starting to get national notoriety for their strong start, the University of Mary men's basketball team returns home to host a pair of Northern Sun contests against South division foes Winona State University Warriors and Upper Iowa University Peacocks at the McDowell Activity Center. The Marauders first take on the Warriors on Friday, January 15, at 8 p.m., before taking on the Peacocks on Saturday, January 16, at 6 p.m.

RECORDS
U-Mary is 13-3 overall and 8-2 in the Northern Sun (4th overall, 3rd North)
Winona State is 6-8 overall and 5-5 in the NSIC (6th overall, 3rd South)
Upper Iowa is 9-10 overall and 5-5 in the NSIC (6th overall, 3rd North)

LAST TIME OUT
U-Mary defeated #3 MSU Moorhead 77-73 before having an 8-game win streak snapped 94-70 at Northern State
Winona State split a pair of road games, losing 83-78 before defeating Southwest Minnesota State 77-69
Upper Iowa extended its win streak to three with two road wins, 81-69 at SMSU and 81-68 at USF

MARAUDERS-PEACOCKS TO AIR ON WEST DAKOTA FOX TV
The Marauders-Peacocks Northern Sun basketball doubleheader on Saturday, January 16, will be broadcast live in HD throughout central and western North Dakota on West Dakota Fox stations starting at 4 p.m. Nine-time North Dakota Sportscaster of the Year and KFYR-TV sports director Lee Timmerman is the television play-by-play announcer for the Marauders. Joining Timmerman in the booth as color commentator is Marissa DeCandido, the KFYR-TV weekend sports anchor and host of Marauders Weekly.

MARAUDERS-WARRIORS IS MIDCO SPORTS NET GAME OF THE WEEK
The Marauders - Dragons men's basketball game will air tape-delayed as Midco SportsNet Game of the Week at 9 p.m. on Tuesday, January 19.

HISTORY LESSON - MARAUDERS v. WARRIORS
The Marauders are 1-15 all-time against the Warriors
WSU is 10-0 at home against U-Mary, including 3-0 in the NSIC tournament
The Marauders lost the first seven games of the series before winning 87-85 in overtime at home on 1.3.10 behind 29 points from Anthony Moody The All-American hit 5-of-6 3-point attempts and captured NSIC Player of the Week honors for his efforts.
The Warriors have won eight straight games over the Marauders
Last Meeting Three big first half runs led Winona State University to a 94-68 home win over the University of Mary on January 16, 2015. A 16-2 run gave WSU an early 20-9 lead and additional runs of 14 and 13 straight points led to a 42-29 lead at half for the Warriors. U-Mary managed to pull within 11 points in the second half but could never get to single digits. Luke Scott hit 4-of-5 treys in the game to lead U-Mary with 12 points. Jaycob Velasco added 10, the only other Marauders player in double figures. WSU hit 13-of-23 treys in the game and shot 55.7 percent overall. Cory Jeffs came off the bench to score a game-high 20 points for the Warriors and Conrad Masberg added 17.
 
HISTORY LESSON - MARAUDERS v. PEACOCKS
The Marauders are 6-7 all-time against the Peacocks
Upper Iowa is 5-2 at home in Dorman Gym
U-Mary is 4-2 at the McDowell Activity Center
The Marauders snapped a 3-game losing streak to the Peacocks last year
Last Meeting Featuring one of their best defensive efforts of the season, the University of Mary earned a 69-56 road win over Upper Iowa University on January 17, 2015. It was the third straight win on a Saturday for the Marauders, who held the Peacocks to 30 percent shooting for the game and 30 points under UIU's scoring average. A tight first half saw four ties and 13 lead changes. U-Mary would take control with a 12-2 run in the second half to build a double digit lead. UIU closed within seven points but U-Mary finished the game on an 8-2 run. Marquealis Edwards posted a double double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Bryan Jefferson added 12 points and Germain Decoste and Damonta Henry both had 10. Jimmy Roth led UIU with 13.  

LAST WEEK REWIND
Playing their first road game in over a month, the Marauders defeated 3rd ranked and NSIC-leading MSU Moorhead 77-73, perhaps the biggest win of U-Mary's NCAA era. Trailing by as many as 14 points in the first half, the Marauders used a 12-4 run to tie the game 42-42. A close contest the rest of the night, the Marauders turned the ball over to Marquealis Edwards in the game's final moments. The senior guard scored the winning basket with 15 seconds left in the game, rebounded a Dragons miss and hit two free throws with 1.2 seconds on the clock. There were six ties and three lead changes in the second half. Isaac Lindquist led U-Mary with a career-high 18 points. Bryan Jefferson added 16 points, Edwards 13 and Devan Douglas 12. Tanner Kretchman scored a game-high 25 points for MSUM and Isaac Sevlie added 15. U-Mary extended its win streak to eight games while ending a 16-game win streak for MSUM and its 25-game home court win streak... U-Mary has no response to a hot Northern State University squad. Northern State made 62.1 percent of its shots, including a 13-of-22 effort behind the arc. U-Mary shot a respectable 46.4 percent but went just 4-of-15 on treys. A 15-2 run in the first half helped the Wolves jump to a 46-29 lead at intermission. The Marauders cut the deficit to 11 points in the second half but never could cut it to single digits. Brandon Tyler was 3-of-4 behind the arc and led the Marauders with 17 points. Bryan Jefferson added 13 points and Devan Douglas added 10. Darin Paterka led the Wolves with 21 points. Skye Warwick hit five treys and scored 17 points. 

RANKING WINS
The highest ranked win of the U-Mary NCAA era is now last week's Marauders 77-73 road victory over 3rd ranked MSU Moorhead. Previously the highest ranked team the Marauders defeated was a 77-48 home win over #8 St. Cloud State University on Dec. 16, 2007.

BEEN AWHILE
The last time U-Mary defeated a nationally ranked team was a 72-51 home win over #19 MSU Moorhead on January 7, 2012. Since then the Marauders had lost eight straight games to nationally ranked teams, including a 98-81 loss to #6 MSU Moorhead on Dec. 5, 2015.

NATIONAL NOTORIETY
For the first time in five years, U-Mary is receiving votes in a national poll. The Marauders earned ten points in this week's NCAA Division II Media Poll, sponsored by D2SIDA. Other NSIC teams in the poll are Augustana (3rd), MSU Moorhead (7th) and Minnesota Duluth (24th). Minnesota State also received 10 votes. The last time the Marauders appeared in a national poll was March 2011. In the final NABC/Division II Coaches Poll of the 2010-11 season U-Mary was ranked 18th overall. The Marauders ranked as high as 14th that season on their way to the only NCAA tournament berth in program history.

MARAUDERS 4th IN D2SIDA ALL-CENTRAL REGION POLL
A win over one of the nation's top teams jumped the University of Mary from ninth to fourth in this week's NCAA Division II Media Poll, presented by D2SIDA. The Marauders expanded their win streak to eight with a 77-73 road victory over the nation's 3rd ranked Dragons, who are currently second in the regional poll. The top four spots in the regional poll are held by teams from the Northern Sun. Augustana received all six first place votes and had 60 points. MSU Moorhead is second with 53 votes, followed by the University of Minnesota Duluth (39), U-Mary (31) and Missouri Southern (28). The second five teams are Lindenwood (24), Minnesota State (23), Arkansas Tech (22), Northwest Missouri (20) and Lincoln (19).

EIGHT STRAIGHT
The Marauders extended their winning streak to eight with the win over #3 MSU Moorhead. The eight straight wins was the Marauders second longest streak during the school's NCAA era, which began with the 2006-07 season. The longest mark is 16 in 2010-11. The eight wins by themselves equals or exceeds U-Mary's full season win total for five of the past ten Marauders seasons.

90
Six times the Marauders have scored 90 or more points in a game. That equals the U-Mary total from the previous NINE YEARS COMBINED! In only two other seasons during the NCAA era has U-Mary reached at least 90 points in a game twice (2009-10 and 2010-11).

80
In 16 games this season U-Mary has scored at least 80 points seven different times. Out of the school's ten NCAA era seasons (beginning with 2006-07), only in 2009-10 have the Marauders scored at least 80 points seven times.

BEST START
With 13 wins in 16 games the Marauders are off to the program's best start of U-Mary's NCAA era, which began with the 2006-07 season.

BEST START II
It took the Marauders 15 games this season to reach 13 wins. In the last decade the fewest games it took to reach 13 wins was 17 games in 2010-11.

BEST START III - NSIC EDITION
With eight wins in ten games, this is the Marauders best start in Northern Sun play. It took U-Mary 12 games to win eight in 2010-11.

BAKER'S DOZEN
With 13 wins this season the Marauders have already exceeded last year's win total of nine. The last time U-Mary had more than 12 wins was 2010-11 when the Marauders finished with 23.

13
The 13 wins this season is already the third best total for U-Mary in ten seasons of NCAA competition. The Marauders won 23 games in 2010-11 and 15 in 2009-10, the only other two double-digit win seasons.

CLUTCH
Marquealis Edwards has shined in the closing minutes of close games this season for U-Mary. Twice he has scored the winning points in the closing seconds and twice he has key free throws to cement wins. His latest starring role came in the 77-73 win over #3 MSU Moorhead. The senior guard scored the last four points of the game, hitting a layup with 15 seconds and two free throws with 1.2 seconds. The Minneapolis, Minn., native the winning layup with three seconds left in a 77-76 win over Southern Arkansas. In a 60-58 win over Northern State Edwards scored the last two U-Mary points with two seconds left. He also hit two free throws in the closing seconds of a 69-65 win at USF.

STAT STUFFER
It's no surprise that Marquealis Edwards would post the Marauders first triple double of the NCAA era when he recorded 10 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists in a win over Presentation. The senior guard from Minneapolis, Minn., ranks among Northern Sun leaders in five categories: 1st in steals (2.0/game), 11th in rebounds (6.5/game), 10th in assists (3.4/game), 18th in scoring (14.3/game) and 4th in free throw percentage (.848).

DEPTH
Ten Marauders have played in at least 13 of 16 games this season. All ten are averaging at least 11 minutes per game.

MAKING SHOTS
U-Mary is connecting on 50.1 percent of its field goal attempts, ranking 8th in NCAA Division II and first in the Northern Sun.

SHARING THE LOAD
Eight different Marauders are averaging at least 5.6 points per game this season.

POINTS POINTS POINTS
U-Mary is averaging 85.4 points per game, 3rd in the NSIC.