SATURDAY
The University of Mary will face Minnesota State University in the quarterfinal round of the 2016 NSIC / Sanford Health men's basketball tournament on Saturday, February 27. Game time is 2:30 p.m. at the Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D.

RECORDS
U-Mary is 18-11 overall and is the third seed in the NSIC North after finishing 12-10 overall in the NSIC (7th overall)
Minnesota State is 21-8 overall and is the second seed in the NSIC South after finishing 15-7 in the NSIC (3rd overall)

LAST TIME OUT
U-Mary opened the NSIC playoffs with a 76-72 home win over Concordia-St. Paul
Minnesota State advanced to the quarterfinals with a 81-71 win over visiting Bemidji State

AT STAKE
The Marauders-Mavericks winner advances to the semifinal round of the 2016 NSIC / Sanford Health tournament and would face the winner of the MSU Moorhead - Upper Iowa game at 12 noon on Monday, Feb. 29, at the Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D. The championship game is set for Tuesday, March 2.
 
AT STAKE II
The winner of the NSIC tournament earns a spot in the NCAA Division II regional tournament.

FOLLOW ALONG
You can follow the Marauders action live from the NSIC championships several ways. Watch and follow live stats of the quarterfinals, semifinals and championship games online at http://portal.stretchinternet.com/umary/. 'Voice of the Marauders' Rick Anthony will broadcast all U-Mary playoff games on Fox Sports 710 AM ( http://foxsports710.iheart.com/ )

FOLLOW ALONG II
The NSIC / Sanford Health men's basketball tournament semifinals and championship game on February 29-March 1 will be televised on Midco Sports Network.

TICKETS
Tickets for the NSIC / Sanford Health quarterfinal, semifinal and championship games are available at Ticketmaster.com or at the Sanford Pentagon Box Office. Session tickets (two games per session) are priced at $16 for adults and $8 for students with children 5 & under admitted free. A day pass (four games) is $26 for adults and $12 for students.

HISTORY LESSON - MARAUDERS v. MAVERICKS
The Marauders are 1-9 all-time against the Mavericks
The two teams first met Dec. 12, 2008, in Bismarck with the Mavericks winning 83-61
U-Mary snapped its four-game losing streak against MSU with an 84-69 home win on 1.15.11 as All-American Anthony Moody hit eight treys and scored 31 points and Jordan Wilhelm added five three pointers and 17 points.
The Mavericks have won the last five meetings
Last Meeting
Visiting Minnesota State University went on a 13-3 run in the final 3:50 to edge U-Mary 76-71. The game featured 11 lead changes and 12 ties. The Mavericks outrebounded the Marauders 44-34 and went to the line ten more times (31-21).
Bryan Jefferson led the Marauders with 18 points. He also had seven rebounds and three assists. Marquealis Edwards hit three treys and scored 17 points with seven rebounds and five assists. Jalen Pendleton scored a game-high 28 points for the Mavericks with eight rebounds and five assists. Jon Fuqua recorded 21 points and 12 rebounds.
               
MARAUDERS NSIC POST-SEASON HISTORY
The Marauders are 2-6 in the NSIC tournament
The first win was a 70-65 1st round home victory over MSU Moorhead on March 2, 2011. Anthony Moody scored 25 points with eight rebounds and seven assists. Eric Erdmann added 17 points and Jordan Wilhelm 12.
The second win was a 76-72 home victory over Concordia-St. Paul on 2.24.16
U-Mary has faced Winona State three times in the NSIC tournament, more than any other team

MARAUDERS NSIC PLAYOFF HISTORY (2-6)
March 1, 2008      at Winona State (1st round)                            L 77-50
March 3, 2010      at Winona State (1st round)                            L 76-57
March 2, 2011      MSU Moorhead (1st round)                            W 70-65
March 5, 2011      vs. St. Cloud State (semi-finals)                    L 65-59
Feb. 27, 2013       at Winona State (1st round)                            L 77-64
Feb. 27, 2014       at Southwest Minn. State (1st round)            L 82-65
Feb. 21, 2015       at Concordia-St. Paul (1st round)                    L 65-78
Feb. 24, 2016       Concordia-St. Paul (1st round)                      W     76-72

MARAUDERS NCAA PLAYOFF HISTORY
March 12, 2011     vs. Metro State (at Mankato, MN)                L 78-73

THE OPPONENT
Year after year one of the top teams in the Northern Sun and NCAA Division II, Minnesota State won 20 games this season for the fourth straight year and the 11th time in 15 seasons under head coach Matt Margenthaler. The Mavericks are fifth in the NCAA D2 Central Region poll. Senior guard Jalen Pendleton was named to the NSIC first team and junior forward Jon Fuqua was placed on the second squad. Pendleton is also the NSIC Newcomer of the Year after averaging 18 points, 4.8 assists, 5.4 rebounds and shooting 43.5 percent. Fuqua averages 15 points and 7.7 rebounds/game.   

WEDNESDAY REWIND - NSIC PLAYOFFS
A dynamic offensive effort in the first half and gritty defensive stand in the second led the Marauders to a 76-72 win over visiting Concordia-St. Paul in the opening round of thr 2016 NSIC / Sanford Health men's basketball playoffs. U-Mary used four dunks in the opening half to lead 44-39 at intermission. In the second half U-Mary led 73-60 with 6:10 left after an Isaac Lindquist basket. CSP then went on a 10-0 run to close within 73-70 with 1:13 remaining. Marquealis Edwards hit two free throws with 36 seconds left to increase the Marauders lead to five. After a CSP layup, Bryan Jefferson added a free throw to finish the game with two seconds left. Edwards led the Marauders with 16 points, six assists and three steals. Devan Douglas added 13 points and Lindquist had ten. Mandli had 17 for the Golden Bears and Ambriz made four treys and scored 16 points.  

BRYAN JEFFERSON NAMED TO ALL-NSIC 1ST TEAM
Junior forward Bryan Jefferson was named to the 2015-16 Northern Sun Men's Basketball All-Conference first team after helping lift the Marauders five slots in the league standings. Jefferson becomes just the third Marauders player to earn first team All-NSIC honors, joining two-time selection Anthony Moody (2010, 2011) and Eric Erdmann (2011). Additionally, the only other U-Mary student-athletes to earn all-conference honors were second team selections Damon Smith (2012) and Erdmann (2010, 2008).The Aurora, Illinois, native averages 15.6 points per game, 6.5 rebounds per game and make 58.4 percent of his field goal attempts, all team-leading figures for the Marauders. He is second on the team in assists (2.1/game) and tied for third in steals (24). Jefferson is converting 72 percent of his free throws and has blocked 12 shots. Jefferson is 12th in the NSIC in scoring, ninth in rebounding and sixth in field goal percentage. In 29 games this season, Jefferson has reached double digits in points 25 times. He has scored over 20 points in a contest five times, including a career-high 33 points in a win at Bemidji State. He has a team-high four double-doubles, paced the Marauders in scoring 12 times and in rebounding 11. Currently Jefferson has 783 career points and ranks sixth on the Marauders scoring list during the school's NCAA and NSIC era, which began with the 2006-07 season.

HOME COURT PLAYOFF SUCCESS
The Marauders have hosted two NSIC playoff games
U-Mary is 2-0 at home in the NSIC playoffs
The Marauders have won just two postseason men's basketball games since beginning NSIC / NCAA play in 2006-07

TREMENDOUS TURNAROUND
Picked 14th in the NSIC preseason coaches poll, the Marauders improved seven spots to finish seventh overall in the league. U-Mary improved its win total in conference play by five (7 wins to 12), the second best increase in wins in the NSIC this season. The only bigger increase was six wins by the University of Sioux Falls.  

CONSISTENCY
The Marauders have started the same lineup for all 29 games this season: senior guards Devan Douglas, Marquealis Edwards and Brandon Tyler and junior forwards Bryan Jefferson and Isaac Lindquist.

DAPPER DOZEN
The 12 conference wins is the second-most for U-Mary since joining the NSIC. The high-water mark is 18 in 2010-12.

THE BORTKE COURT MAC ATTACK
After struggling at home the last few seasons, U-Mary is once again finding success at the McDowell Activity Center (MAC). The playing floor was christened Bortke Court in honor of long-time U-Mary men's basketball coach and athletic director Al Bortke in July 2009. Here is the Marauders NCAA Division II home record:
2006-07:   5-  7
2007-08:   4-  7
2008-09:   7-  5
2009-10: 11-  2
2010-11: 12-  1
2011-12:   3-10
2012-13:   3-  9
2013-14:   6-  7
2014-15:   4-  8
2015-16:   8-  7
The Marauders once won 27 straight home games for Coach Bortke
at the MAC (February 19, 1976 thru November 11, 1978).

WINNING
With 18 wins the Marauders are guaranteed a winning record this season. In the school's NCAA/NSIC era, there are only two other winning seasons; a 23-6 mark in 2010-11 and a 15-13 record in 2009-10.

EXCITING 18
U-Mary's 18 wins this season is the most victories for the Marauders since posting 23 in 2010-11
18 wins is the second-most wins for U-Mary since beginning NCAA and NSIC play with the 2006-07 season
The 18 wins exceeds the Marauders win total from the previous two seasons combined (16)

700 CLUB
Three Marauders passed 700 career points in the last two weeks. Junior forward Bryan Jefferson now sits with 783 career points. Junior guard Damonta Henry is at 726 points for his career and senior Marquealis Edwards is at 732 points.
 
BOARD GAMES
The Marauders have been tremendous on the boards this season. U-Mary is 6th in the NSIC and 74th nationally in rebounding margin at +3.4 rebounds/game.

90
Seven times the Marauders have scored 90 or more points in a game. That EXCEEDS the U-Mary total of six 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 29 games this season U-Mary has scored at least 80 points 11 different times. Out of the school's ten NCAA era seasons (beginning with 2006-07), the previous high for 80 points in a season was seven in 2009-10.

BEST START
It took only 16 games for the Marauders to win 13 games this season, the fewest games needed to reach that level in U-Mary's NCAA era, which began with the 2006-07 season.

LEGAL THEFT
The Marauders lead the NSIC in steals with 6.7/game. Marquealis Edwards is 2nd in the Northern Sun individually with 1.8 steals/game.

JEFFERSON STEPS FORWARD
Junior forward Bryan Jefferson continues to develop into one of the top players in the Northern Sun. The Aurora, Ill., native has led the Marauders in scoring 12 times this season and rebounding 11 times. He has posted double digit point totals in 25 of 29 contests. Averaging 15.96 points per game, he is 12th in the NSIC in scoring. Additionally Jefferson is 9th in rebounding (6.5/game) and 6th in field goal shooting (.591). He is second on the squad in assists (2.1/game) and third in steals (24).

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 the winning layup with 15 seconds remaining and adding two free throws with 1.2 seconds left. 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: 2nd in steals (1.8/game), 14th in rebounds (5.8/game), 9th in assists (3.6/game), 22nd in scoring (12.8/game) and 10th in free throw percentage (.820).

SENSATIONAL SUGGS
Rickey Suggs may be coming off the bench for the Marauders but he is producing like a starter. In his last nine regular season games Suggs has produced double digit points seven times and is averaging 10.4 points and 5.4 rebounds per game while making 66.1 percent of his field goals. For the year Suggs averages 7.9 PPG and 4.9 RPG and is shooting 55 percent.

SEVENTH HEAVEN
Seven Marauders average at least 7.6 points per game. Bryan Jefferson averages a team-high 15.6 PPG and Marquealis Edwards is right behind at 12.8 PPG. Brandon Tyler and Isaac Lindquist are at 9.7 and 9.6 PPG respectively, followed by Devan Douglas (8.9 PPG), Rickey Suggs (7.9 PPG) and Damonta Henry (7.6 PPG). Suggs and Henry are doing their damage off the bench.  

DEPTH
All 11 Marauders have played in at least 15 of 29 games this season. All 11 average at least 9.0 minutes per game.

MAKING SHOTS
U-Mary is connecting on 48.0 percent of its field goal attempts, ranking 50th in NCAA Division II and fifth in the Northern Sun.

POINTS POINTS POINTS
U-Mary is averaging 80.3 points per game, 8th in the NSIC.

DOUBLING DOWN
Bryan Jefferson owns four of the Marauders eight double doubles and five of the team's eight 20 point outbursts this season. For his career Jefferson has seven double doubles and has scored 20 or more points seven times.

DOWNTOWN
After playing limited minutes the last two seasons, SR G Brandon Tyler is averaging 9.6 points per game and leads U-Mary with 61 treys. He is 8th in the NSIC with 2.1 treys/game and makes 41.5 percent of hits shots beyond the arc.

500+
Senior guard Brandon Tyler passed the half century mark a couple weeks ago and is sitting at 566 career points.