MONDAY
One game from the conference championship game, the University of Mary will play in the Northern Sun / Sanford Health men's basketball tournament semifinals for just the second time in school history when the Marauders face 7th ranked MSU Moorhead on Monday, February 29. Game time is 12 noon at the Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D.

RECORDS
U-Mary is 19-11 overall and is the third seed in the NSIC North after finishing 12-10 overall in the NSIC (7th overall)
MSU Moorhead is 29-4 overall and is the top seed in the NSIC North after finishing 19-3 in the NSIC (2nd overall)

LAST TIME OUT
U-Mary defeated Minnesota State 96-91 in overtime in the quarterfinal tound of the NSIC tournament. Defeated Concordia-St. Paul 76-72 in the opening round.
MSU Moorhead defeated Upper Iowa 98-82 in the NSIC quarterfinals. The Dragons opened the tournament with a 109-83 win over Wayne State.  

AT STAKE
The Marauders-Dragons winner advances to the championship game of the 2016 NSIC / Sanford Health tournament and would face the winner of the Augustana-Winona State contest. The championship game is set for 5 p.m. Tuesday, March 2, at the Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
 
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 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. DRAGONS
The Marauders trail the Dragons 15-12 in the all-time series
Since joining the NCAA and NSIC, U-Mary is 7-13 against MSUM
The Marauders won the first conference match-up with a 75-72 win at MSUM on January 16, 2007
The Dragons followed with five straight wins, including an overtime victory, one win by one point and another by two points
The Marauders snapped the Dragons streak with a decisive 74-58 win at home on Jan. 30, 2010, the first of five straight UM wins that concluded with a 72-51 win over 19th ranked MSUM on Jan. 7, 2012, at the MAC.
The Marauders snapped an 8-game losing streak to the Dragons with a 77-73 upset win at 3rd ranked MSUM on January 8, 2016
The last Marauders home win against the Dragons was a 72-51 victory on 1.7.12 at the MAC
Last Meeting Marquealis Edwards scored the last four points of the game as visiting U-Mary upset #3 MSU Moorhead 77-73 on January 8, 2016. The win was U-Mary's 8th straight and snapped a 16 game overall winning streak and a 25-game home win streak for the Dragons. This is the highest ranked NCAA opponent U-Mary has beaten. Down 38-24 late in the first half, the Marauders closed strong and trailed just 38-30 at intermission. Devan Douglas gave the Marauders their first lead of the night at 60-59 before the Dragons rebuilt a five point edge. Both teams continued to trade leads and MSUM tied the contest with 45 seconds left. After Edwards misfired on a 3-point shot U-Mary retained possession when the ball went out of play. This time Edwards found success, finding a seam and hitting a basket with seven seconds remaining. Edwards then rebounded a Dragons failed attempt to time the game, was fouled and made a pair of free throws with 1.2 seconds left. Isaac Lindquist led the Marauders with 18 points. Bryan Jefferson chipped in 16 points and Edwards had 13 points, eight rebounds and five steals. Douglas had 12 points. Tanner Kretchman sank four treys and led MSUM with 25 points.  
 
MARAUDERS NSIC POST-SEASON HISTORY
The Marauders are 3-6 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

MARAUDERS NSIC PLAYOFF HISTORY (3-6)
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
Feb. 27, 2016            vs. Minnesota State (quarterfinals)                W 96-91

MARAUDERS NCAA PLAYOFF HISTORY (0-1)
March 12, 2011     vs. Metro State (at Mankato, MN)                L 78-73

THE OPPONENT
One of the nation's best programs, head coach Chad Walthall has led the Dragons to two NCAA tournament berths, including a Central region title last season and a spot in the NCAA Elite Eight. MSUM is led by three All-Northern Sun selections. For a second straight season, Isaac Sevlie earned first team honors after scoring 22.3 points per game to lead the conference. He is second in blocks, shoots 62.5 percent from the floor and averages 7.1 rebounds. Sophomore Tanner Kretchman is also a first team choice after averaging 13.5 points and 5.7 assists. Tyler Vaughan  - brother of U-Mary assistant coach Josh Vaughan - earned second team honors after averaging 12.3 PPG.

WEDNESDAY REWIND - NSIC PLAYOFFS
Marquealis Edwards forced overtime and Bryan Jefferson dominated the extra session of a 96-91 Marauders overtime win against Minnesota State University in the 2016 NSIC/Sanford Health men's basketball quarterfinals. After a wide-open first half that saw U-Mary leading 54-48 at intermission, defense dominated the second half. In the last six minutes of regulation the game featured four ties with each team takings leads four times. Down 83-81 with 20 seconds remaining on a Jalen Pendleton basket, Edwards tied the game with five seconds on the clock. In overtime, Jefferson broke an 85-85 tie with six straight points, giving the Marauders a lead that wouldn't be lost. Jefferson led U-Mary with 22 points and nine rebounds. Edwards had 11 points and eight rebounds. Devan Douglas scored 16 points. Pendleton led MSU with 24 points and 11 assists. Jon Fuqua added 22 points and eight rebounds.

UNFAMILIAR TERRITORY
The Marauders have reached the NSIC semifinals for just the first time since 2011 and only the second time since joining the conference and NCAA Division II in 2006-07. Additionally this is just the first time making the semifinals in this format. In 2011 just eight schools made the conference tournament. With the addition of two more schools in 2012-13, the playoffs expanded to all 16 teams.

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 three 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 30 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 19 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.

NIFTY 19
U-Mary's 19 wins this season is the most victories for the Marauders since posting 23 in 2010-11
19 wins is the second-most wins for U-Mary since beginning NCAA and NSIC play with the 2006-07 season
The 19 wins exceeds the Marauders win total from the previous two seasons combined (16)

800
With 22 points against Minnesota State, junior forward Bryan Jefferson cracked the 800 point plateau and now sits at 805. He is just the sixth Marauders player to score at least 800 points during the school's NCAA era.
 
700 CLUB
Two Marauders have climbed past 700 career points in recent games. Junior guard Damonta Henry is at 736 points for his career and senior Marquealis Edwards is at 759 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
Eight 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 30 games this season U-Mary has scored at least 80 points 12 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 13 times this season and rebounding 12 times. He has posted double digit point totals in 26 of 30 contests. Averaging 15.8 points per game, he is 12th in the NSIC in scoring. Additionally Jefferson is 9th in rebounding (6.6/game) and 6th in field goal shooting (.581). 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.  Before forcing overtime by hitting a shot with five seconds remaining in regulation of U-Mary's NSIC tournament win over Minnesota State, he twice scored the winning points in the closing seconds of games 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 (13.2/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 5.9 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.