BISMARCK, N.D – Continuing from where they left off at Christmas break, the University of Mary men's basketball team extended its winning streak to six games with a 65-56 home victory over the University of Minnesota Crookston in their first game of 2016.
Bryan Jefferson scored a game-high 20 points to headline the Marauders efforts.
The victory improves the Marauders season mark to 11-2 overall and 6-1 in the Northern Sun. U-Mary is third in the overall standings and second in the North division. UMC is 3-8 and 1-6.
The six-game winning streak is the school's longest since rattling off 16 straight in Jan.-Feb. 2011. The 11 wins are the most by the Marauders since claiming 23 in the 2010-11 season.
On a night when the Marauders high-powered offense struggled to find its groove, the U-Mary defensive effort carried the squad to the win. The Marauders allowed a season-low 56 points and limited the Golden Eagles to a shooting percentage of .313, the second best mark for U-Mary this season.
The second-best scoring offense in the Northern Sun, the Marauders averaged nearly 87 points a game entering tonight. Additionally, U-Mary was shooting over 51 percent for the season, 8
th in the country, before making just 38.9 percent of its shots against UMC.
The Golden Eagles jumped out to an early 13-9 lead behind a pair of 3-pointers in what would be the largest lead of the night for UMC. A pair of
Rickey Suggs free throws tied the game at 13-13 for U-Mary and the Marauders never trailed again.
Behind six points from Jefferson and capped by a trey from Devon Douglas, the Marauders went on an 11-3 run to build a 26-18 lead with over 3:00 left in the opening half and entered intermission leading 30-25.
UMC came out of the locker room on fire as Chase Knickerbocker hit a trey and Derrick Redd a layup to pull even at 30-30.
That mini run by the Golden Eagles seemed to flip a switch in the Marauders, who scored the next 11 points of the game and 22 of the next 28.
Once again it was Jefferson who started the run, scoring four points on back-to-back baskets. After an
Isaac Lindquist basket,
Brandon Tyler hit a trey. Lindquist followed with another basket off a feed from Jefferson and the Marauders suddenly led 41-30.
Not yet done, the Marauders continued to score and built a 52-36 lead with 12:15 remaining in the game.
The Marauders struggled to find baskets the rest of the night. A Lindquist layup for a 58-43 U-Mary lead with 6:28 left in the game was the squad's last field goal of the night. The Marauders missed their final seven shots of the game and committed a turnover, allowing UMC back into the game.
Minnesota Crookston took advantage of the U-Mary offensive draught, using treys from Ben Grygiel, Knickerbocker and Redd to pull the Golden Eagles within 59-54 with 55 seconds to play.
The Marauders would stem the tide at the free throw line.
Brenden Mann made a pair with 46 seconds left to push the lead back to 61-54. After a defensive rebound by
Marquealis Edwards with 32 seconds remaining, the senior guard made a pair to increase the home team's lead to 63-54. Following a Grygiel basket at 0:22, Edwards sealed the game with two more free throws with 19 seconds showing on the clock.
Jefferson scored 20 points for the second straight game and the third time this season. The junior forward was 7-of-11 from the field and 6-of-10 at the free throw line. He also led the team with eight rebounds and four assists.
Edwards posted 11 points, seven rebounds and four assists and made all six free throws.
Kobe Chritchley paced UMC with 12 points. Off the bench, Knickerbocker scored 11 points and Grygiel had 10.
The Marauders close out a home weekend against Bemidji State University at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 3.
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