CROOKSTON, Minn. – Rickey Suggs led a dominant effort by the University of Mary men's basketball team on both ends of the floor as the visiting Marauders completed a weekend road sweep with an 83-67 win at the University of Minnesota Crookston. The win allows the Marauders to move into a three-way tie for second place in the Northern Sun North Division with two games remaining in the regular season.
 
"It is really hard to get road sweeps in February," said Marauders head coach Joe Kittell. "I loved our enthusiasm all weekend. It was a total team effort."
 
U-Mary improved to 16-10 overall and 11-9 in the NSIC. Fourth in the divisional standings prior to the weekend, the Marauders are now tied with Northern State University and the University of Minnesota Duluth for second. The top four teams in the division host an opening round NSIC playoff game on February 24.
 
The Marauders host UMD and fifth place St, Cloud State University in the final weekend of regular season play on February 19-20 with the possibility of placing as high as second in the North division standings and finishing as low as fifth place.
 
U-Mary's 16^th win is the second highest total in the school's ten seasons of playing NCAA Division II and Northern Sun competition and just the third winning season.
 
Suggs came of the bench to score a game-high 17 points for an efficient Marauders offense. It was the sixth time in seven games Suggs has reached double digit points in a reserve role. The junior from Woodbury, Minn., knocked down 7-of-10 shots plus all three free throws and also led the Marauders with seven rebounds and two steals.
 
The Marauders hit 55.6 percent of their shots for the game, including a 60 percent effort in the second half. The Golden Eagles managed to make just 36.5 percent of their field goal attempts.
 
A close game much of the night, U-Mary entered the half up 37-32. Grinding away, UMC eventually knotted the contest at 42-42 with 16:48 left in the game.
 
Forcing the game inside, the Marauders went on a 26-10 run over the next eight minutes. Suggs popped for seven points, Devan Douglas six and Bryan Jefferson five as U-Mary gained a 68-52 advantage.
 
Suggs eventually pushed the Marauders lead to 22 points when he stole the ball on consecutive Golden Eagles possessions and drove in for back-to-back layups.
 
Jefferson and Douglas both scored 11 points for the Marauders. Jefferson also had three assists. Marquealis Edwards, Damonta Henry and Brandon Tyler all chipped in nine points and ten of 11 U-Mary players scored in the game.
 
Gable Smith led UMC with 14 points.

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