MOORHEAD, Minn. – Playing perhaps their finest half of the season against one of the nation's best teams, the University of Mary men's basketball team edged 3^rd ranked and Northern Sun-leading MSU Moorhead 77-73 as Marquealis Edwards scored the last four points of the game. The Marauders eighth straight win snapped a 16 game winning streak for the Dragons. It also ended a run of 25 straight home wins for MSUM.
 
The 3^rd ranked Dragons are the highest ranked NCAA team the Marauders have beaten. The previous best was a 77-48 win over 8^th ranked St. Cloud State University on Dec. 16, 2007. The last victory over a ranked opponent was a 72-51 win over the 19^th ranked Dragons on January 7, 2012.  
 
The Marauders improve to 13-2 overall and 8-1 in the Northern Sun, pulling U-Mary into a tie with MSUM for 1^st in the NSIC North Division and second overall. MSUM is 16-2 and 8-1.
 
U-Mary's last loss was Dec. 5 to then 6^th-ranked MSU Moorhead 98-81. A three-point contest at half, the Dragons dominated the second half to run away with the win. In the rematch, the Marauders needed a big second half to overcome a slow start to the contest.
 
Down 11 points less than seven minutes into the game, U-Mary trailed 38-24 with 2:56 left before half. With the Marauders shooting just 30 percent from the floor in the opening stanza and missing all six 3-point attempts, the home crowd was sensing another easy win for the Dragons. Instead, the Marauders found a spark.
 
Brandon Tyler grabbed an offensive rebound off his own miss and hit a jumper with 2:41 left in the half. After a defensive stop, Edwards knocked down a jump shot to pull U-Mary within 10. Then a steal by Erron Collins led to a Bryan Jefferson layup and the Marauders were within 38-30 at intermission.
 
That momentum carried over to the second half for U-Mary. Attacking the Dragons interior defense, Jefferson and Isaac Lindquist scored all the Marauders points in a 12-4 run to tie the game at 42-42. After Jefferson sandwiched a couple layups around a Lindquist jumper, the Marauders junior center scored six straight points to forge the first tie of the game.
 
The Dragons responded by scoring eight straight points, including a pair of treys.
 
Refusing to fade away as they did in the last meeting, the Marauders took their first lead of the night after a pair of 3-pointers from Damonta Henry and Edwards and three straight points from Devan Douglas. After putting back a rebound off his own miss to tie the game, Douglas gave the Marauders their first lead of the night seconds later after he was fouled and made a free throw for a 60-59 lead with 7:05 left in the game.
 
Tanner Kretchman then stepped up for the Dragons. Fouled while making a jumper, Kretchman hit the free throw to complete a 3-point play. He soon followed with a 3-pointer for a five point MSUM lead before trading baskets with Lindquist to maintain the Dragons advantage at 67-62.
 
Undaunted, the Marauders ripped off seven straight points to regain the lead. Tyler hit a trey to start the run, Lindquist added a pair of free throws and Douglas hit a layup after a steal by Edwards.
 
A pair of Ngijol Songolo free throws pulled the Dragons even but a Jefferson jumper put the Marauders back in front 71-69. Two more free throws, this time by Isaac Sevlie, again knotted the game with 2:12 left.
 
Continuing to pound the ball inside, Lindquist scored off a feed from Douglas at 1:05 for another U-Mary lead. Once again, the home team drew even, this time on two Kretchman free throws with 45 seconds on the clock.
 
With time running down on its possession, U-Mary called a time out with 21 seconds left in the game. Forced to fire up a long shot, an Edwards 3-point attempt missed badly but the rebound went out of bounds off MSUM.
 
Now with 15 seconds left in the game and the shot clock off, the Marauders turned the ball – and the game - over to to Edwards. The senior guard found a seam to the basket and scored with seven seconds left in the game. Edwards then rebounded Sevlie's attempt to tie the game with 1.2 seconds left on the clock and made both free throws to seal the Marauders upset.
 
The lead changed hands three times in the second half and the score was tied six times.
 
In a battle on the boards between two of the top rebounding teams in the Northern Sun, the Marauders held a 36-30 edge overall and a decisive 13-4 advantage on the offensive glass. U-Mary had an 18-4 lead in second chance points and outscored MSUM 30-14 in the paint.
 
Facing one of the best post players in the NSIC in Sevlie, Lindquist had a career night in scoring with 18 points. The junior center made 8-of-15 shots and both free throw attempts and added three rebounds.
 
Jefferson scored most of his 16 points in the paint, making 6-of-8 shots and grabbing four rebounds. Edwards chipped in 13 points. The senior guard made all six free throws and led all players with eight rebounds and five steals. Douglas hit 5-of-9 shots on his way to 12 points and recorded six rebounds. Tyler added nine points.
 
Kretchman scored 25 points for the Dragons, making 4-of-6 3-point attempts and 9-of-12 shots overall. Sevlie was just 5-of-12 shooting and scored 15 points. Tyler Vaughan had 12 points and Songolo added 11.
 
U-Mary shot 59.4 percent of its field goal attempts in the second half and finished at 45.2 percent for the game.
 
The Marauders next visit Northern State University on Saturday, January 9. Tip off is set for 6 p.m.
 
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