ABERDEEN, SD – Overcoming a baker's dozen first half deficit, the University of Mary rallied past Northern State University 77-75 for the first Marauders road win of the season.
Finding a shooting touch that had abandoned them the night before in a loss at MSU Moorhead, the Marauders (3-5 overall, 2-1 Northern Sun) made over half their shots from the floor while playing clutch defense. After shooting under 40 percent against the Dragons, the Marauders connected on 51.8 percent of their shots overall against the Wolves (5-4, 1-2), clicking at 56.5 percent in the second half. Mary held off Northern State at the free throw line down the stretch, making 9-of-12 at the charity stripe in the final 72 seconds.
Rickey Suggs keyed a strong night for the Marauders bench, scoring a season-high 14 points. The junior forward also had four rebounds, made 6-of-11 shots and didn't commit a turnover.
Luke Scott hit two treys and added eight points in a reserve roll and the Marauders held a 24-12 edge in points off the bench.
Bryan Jefferson paced the Marauders scoring efforts. The senior all-conference forward contributed 17 points and six rebounds. He also led the Marauders with five assists, two blocks and two assists. Fellow seniors
Isaac Lindquist and
Damonta Henry also reached double digits in points. Lindquist had 12 points and four rebounds and Henry hit two treys and added 11 points.
Mack Arvidson made 6-of-9 trey attempts and led Northern State in scoring with 18 points. Ian Smith added 15 points and five assists.
Down by as many as 13 points in the opening half, the Marauders used a 12-0 run to knot the game 34-34 late in the first half before entering intermission down 39-36.
Erron Collins started the rally with a layup off an assist from Jefferson. Back-to-back treys by Scott and
Trevor Zacher were followed by jumpers from Lindquist and Jefferson.
Mary took its first lead of the game at 47-45 on a pair of Jefferson free throws with just over 16 minutes left in the contest.
In a second half that featured seven ties and three lead changes, the Marauders took the lead for good on a Suggs jumper in the lane for a 59-57 advantage. A Northern State turnover led to a Lindquist bucket and Jefferson followed with a layup to finish a 6-0 run and give Mary a 63-57 lead with 5:35 remaining.
Refusing to fade away, the Wolves climbed within 68-64 before being forced to foul. The Marauders responded by hitting seven straight free throw, the first four by Jefferson before
Pat Thomas made the next three. Zacher and Henry each hit a single free throw in the final 15 seconds to seal the Marauders first road win of the year.
Despite being outrebounded 36-26, the Marauders outscored the Wolves 44-32 in the paint and committed a season-low six turnovers to 12 for NSU.
The Marauders next start a three-game home stand with a non-conference contest against Peru State University on Tuesday, Dec. 6, at 7 pm before hosting NSIC foes Wayne State and defending national champion Augustana on Dec. 9-10.
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