THIS WEEK
Hoping to hold on to the final home Northern Sun North Division playoff slot on the final weekend of the season, the University of Mary men's basketball team visits Bemidji State University and the University of Minnesota Crookston on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 17-18. The Marauders first take on the Beavers on Friday at 6 pm, one of two teams just a game behind Mary for fourth place in the NSIC North. Mary concludes the regular season against the Golden Eagles at 6 pm on Saturday.

THE RECORD
After sweeping the final home weekend series of the year, the Marauders are 11-15 overall and 9-11 against Northern Sun foes. Mary is 8th overall in the NSIC and fourth in the NSIC North, a game ahead of both Minot State and Bemidji State.

CONTROLLING THEIR OWN DESTINY
With a game up on both Bemidji State and Minot State for fourth place and a precious home berth in the first round of the NSIC / Sanford Health Men's Basketball Tournament, the Marauders secure the home game no matter what with a weekend home sweep. Should the Marauders tie either of the Beavers, the tie-breakers appear to fall towards BSU and MSU. While Mary has split the season series with Minot State, Bemidji State won the first meeting between the Marauders and the Beavers. A tie in the standings with either of the other two teams also appears to leave Mary on the short end as both BSU and MSU would have a better divisional record against fellow NSIC North squads.

NSIC TOURNAMENT INFO
The NSIC / Sanford Health basketball tournament begins on Wednesday, Feb. 22, at home sites. The top seed in the NSIC North hosts the 8th seed in the NSIC South, #2 NSIC North hosts #7 NSIC South, #3 NSIC North hosts #6 NSIC South and #4 NSIC North hosts #5 NSIC South. Additionally the #1 NSIC South hosts #8 NSIC North, #2 NSIC South hosts #7 NSIC North, #3 NSIC South hosts #6 NSIC North and #4 NSIC South hosts #5 NSIC North. The eight first round winners advance to the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, SD, for the next three rounds. The quarterfinals are Sunday, Feb. 26, with the semifinals on Monday, Feb. 27 and the championship game on Tuesday, Feb. 28. The winner of the conference tournament advances to the NCAA regional tournament.

FAST BREAKS
The Marauders posted their first home weekend series sweep of the season last weekend when Mary defeated St. Cloud State and Minnesota Duluth.
Mary's only other sweep this season was on the road at Concordia-St. Paul and Minnesota State on Jan. 13-14
After playing three straight games against teams with winning records (USF, SMSU, SCSU) and winning two (USF, SCSU), the Marauders are in the midst of playing three teams with losing records. Mary defeated UMD last Saturday and now visits Bemidji State and Minnesota Crookston.
Marauders 1,000 point scorers Bryan Jefferson and Damonta Henry continue to pile up the points. In seven of the last eight games the duo have combined to score 36 or more points with a high of 48 at Winona State. Last weekend the seniors from Illinois combined for 36 against SCSU and 47 against UMD.

BEMIDJI STATE UNIVERSITY BEAVERS HEADLINES
The Beavers are 10-15 overall and 8-12 in the NSIC, tied for fifth in the North Division and tied for 10th overall in the league
BSU is 6-5 at home and 4-8 on the road (0-2 neutral sites)
The Beavers are 4-2 in their last six home games, including a 96-86 win over NSIC South leading Southwest Minnesota State
Head coach Mike Boschee is in his fourth season at BSU and is 64-72. His career head coaching record in 14 seasons is 179-187
Jai'Vionne Green leads BSU in scoring at 17.2 PPG. He is making 47.7 percent of his shots and connects on 49 percent of his trey attempts. Green is second among freshmen in scoring this season in the NSIC.
Sharif Black adds 12.6 PPG and Ben Best is at 12.1 PPG with a team-high 4.9 rebounds/game

HISTORY LESSON - MARAUDERS v. BEAVERS
Mary leads the series with BSU 13-9
The series began in 1971 with a 92-87 home win for the Marauders
The two teams played twice in the 1987 season with each school winning at home
Since becoming a member of the NSIC, Mary captured the first five meetings before BSU broke through with a home win in the 2009-10 season
After six straight losses to the Beavers, the Marauders swept the season series the last two years
BSU snapped a 4-game losing streak to the Marauders earlier this season at the MAC
LAST MEETING: A close contest much of the night, Mary could pull no closer than three points in the closing minutes of a 78-67 home loss to Bemidji State. Damonta Henry reached 1,000 career points in the game and finished with 19. Bryan Jefferson added 20 points and nine rebounds for Mary. Isaac Lindquist chipped in 13 and rickey Suggs had nine points and nine rebounds. Sharif Black paced BSU with 18 points and

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA CROOKSTON
GOLDEN EAGLES HEADLINES
The Golden Eagles are 7-19 overall, 3-17 in the NSIC (t-14th) and tied for seventh in the NSIC North with UMD (3-17)
UMD is in the midst of a 10-game losing streak overall and a six-game losing streak in the road
Mary and UMC both played in the SBU Classic at Southwest Baptist to open the season. The Marauders dropped both games and UMC was 1-1 with a win over host SBU. The SBU win is only UMC road win of the season.
A young squad, UMC features two freshmen and three sophomores in the starting lineup. Also the top-scoring reserve is a freshman.
Head Coach Dan Wiese is in his third season at UMC and is 17-63
UMC is 3-3 in games that have come down to a single possession, defeating Bemidji State, St. Cloud State and Concordia-St. Paul with losses to MSU Moorhead, BSU and Southwest Minnesota State. UMC also had an overtime loss at Northern State 85-80.
Fr. G Harrison Cleary is second in the NSIC in scoring at 21.5 PPG. He is the league's top-scoring freshman. He is shooting 48 percent overall and 84.8 percent at the free throw. Cleary has shot 138 free throws, 29 more than any other player among the free throw percentage leaders. He is shooting 46.6 percent from the floor.
Chase Knickerbocker is the other UMC player in double figures at 10.8 PPG
UMC is second the NSIC in blocks/game (4.0)
HISTORY LESSON - MARAUDERS v. GOLDEN EAGLES
Since joining the Northern Sun for the 2006-07 season, the Marauders are 17-4 against the Golden Eagles
Mary is 10-1 at home and 7-3 away versus UMC
The Marauders are 9-1 in the last nine outings against the Golden Eagles
Mary has won five straight home games and four straight overall
The last Golden Eagles home win was 64-61 on Jan. 2, 2015.
The only home Mary loss to UMC was 56-53 on Jan. 8, 2012
LAST MEETING The highest-scoring Marauders game of the year (183 total points), Mary defeated Minnesota Crookston 94-89. The game featured 22 lead changes and seven ties. The Marauders hit 11-of-12 free throws in the final 63 seconds. Bryan Jefferson combined 28 points and nine rebounds to lead Mary in both categories. Rickey Suggs added 19 points, Damonta Henry 16 and Trevor Zacher 11. Harrison Cleary scored 26 for UMC and Connor Gamble added 16.

REWIND
Playing to remain in the running for the fourth and final home playoff spot in the NSIC North, the Marauders defeated St. Cloud State 99-79 and Minnesota Duluth 81-66 to jump up a game in the conference standings and take sole possession of fourth place with two games remaining. Behind a career-high 25 points by Rickey Suggs on 11-of-12 shooting, the Marauders rolled past the 3rd place Huskies. Mary made 60 percent of its shots and took a 44-27 lead late in the first half. Six Marauders scored in double figures; Damonta Henry (22), Bryan Jefferson (14 with nine rebounds), Isaac Lindquist (11), Pat Thomas (11) and Trevor Zacher (10). Gage Davis had 36 points and 10 rebounds for SCSU and Jon Averkamp added 28 points... Damonta Henry posted career-highs with 27 points and seven treys in the win over UMD. Mary shot 56 percent overall and made 12-of-24 treys while leading from start to finish. Jefferson added 20 points and Erron Collins hit all three of his trey attempts to score nine.   

JEFFERSON JOTTINGS
Sr. forward Bryan Jefferson joined an exclusive club in Marauders history after cracking the 1,000 point and 500 rebound barrier. The 17th Marauder with 1,000 points, he is one of only seven Mary players have 500 rebounds. Additionally, the Aurora, IL, native is the 5th player in school history to crack both 1,000 points and 500 rebounds. The others are Roger Klemisch (1,465 points and 782 rebounds), Jerome Nichols (1,366 and 707), Rory Entzi (1,870 and 609) and Eric Erdmann (1,642 and 603).
Jefferson is currently 9th all-time with 1,229 points. Scott Kleinjan is the Marauders all-time scoring leader with 2,268.
Next on the list but maybe out of reach is Jerome Nichols with 1,366 points.
Jefferson is 6th all-time in rebounding with 594. With at least three games remaining he has a chance to move past Eric Erdmann (603) and Rory Entzi (609). Roger Klemisch is the all-time Marauders rebounding leader with 782.  
The Aurora, IL, native has four double doubles this season
He has just missed double digits in rebounds several times this season, ending with nine boards in nine different games
Only the third Mary player to earn All-NSIC 1st team honors, Jefferson is currently 9th in the league in scoring (15.9 PPG) and 5th in rebounds (7.5 RPG)
Jefferson has led the Marauders in scoring five times and rebounding 18 times this season
Seven times this season Jefferson has scored 20 or more points

OH HENRY
Damonta Henry reached 1,000 career points against Bemidji State on Jan. 21, the 18th Marauder to reach that career milestone.
Has led the Marauders in scoring the last six games
Henry has cracked 20 points nine times this season, including a career-high 27 points against Minnesota Duluth on Senior Night
He has cracked 20 points in five of his last six games
In his past ten games Henry is averaging 20.9 points per game while making 29-of-64 (45.3%) 3-pointers and 75-of-145 (52%) field goals
The senior guard has led the Marauders in scoring 12 times this season
Henry leads the Marauders in treys (62) and scoring (16.7 PPG). His scoring average is 7th in the NSIC
Henry is 6th in the NSIC in 3-pointers per game (2.5)

SUGGS STORYLINE
After providing a jolt to the Marauders offense and defense all season, senior G/F Rickey Suggs moved into the starting lineup against SCSU. He has started ten games since, other than two games he missed due to injury and a third while still recovering.
Over those 11 games Suggs is averaging 12.5 PPG, 5.1 RPG and is shooting 57 percent
He scored a career-high 25 points in the Marauders 99-79 win over SCSU, making an incredible 11-of-12 shots
His shooting percentage (.917) was second best by a Marauders player during the NCAA era, just behind a perfect 11-for-11 night by Marc Musungayi against MSU Moorhead on 12.8.12.  
Missed the Winona State and Sioux Falls games after suffering an injury at UIU
Playing in his back yard, the Woodbury, MN, native posted 19 points in the win at Concordia-St. Paul.
Suggs is 3rd on the team with 10.5 PPG, third in rebounds at 4.4/game, first in field goal percentage (.550) and third in steals with 21

LINDQUIST LINE SCORE
Sr. C Isaac Lindquist was one of nine Marauders to receive the Northern Sun's Myles Brand All-Academic with Distinction honor, one of the highest honors awarded by the NSIC. Student-athletes must have at least a 3.75 grade point average and be a senior on course to graduate and will exhaust their athletic eligibility this year.
The Milbank, SD, native is in his third season as a starter in the post for the Marauders and will earn a degree in Business Administration and Psychology.
4th on the team in scoring at 8.9 PPG
With 688 career points, he is 9th in scoring during Mary's NCAA era

COLLINS CHALK TALK
Sr. G Erron Collins earned his first carer starts for the Marauders against Northern State and MSU Moorhead and has started ten straight games
19 of his 21 baskets this season are three-pointers
Went 3-for-3 behind the arc on Senior Day in win over UMD

STOP THIEF
The Marauders are fourth in the NSIC lead in steals with 6.5 per game.  A true team effort, Pat Thomas leads Mary and is 6th in the NSIC at 1.4 steals/game and 36 on the season. Damonta Henry is second on the team with 26 with Luke Scott (20), Bryan Jefferson (19) and Rickey Suggs (21) close behind.

TURNOVERS
Feeding off its penchant to steal the ball from its opponents, Mary is second in the NSIC in turnover margin. The Marauders are +2.38 per game, committing 10.7 turnovers/game while forcing 13.1. After suffering a -2 in turnover margin in the season opener, the Marauders turned the ball over fewer times than their opponents in eight straight games, including a +3 mark against NCAA Division I and Big Ten member Nebraska. For the season the Marauders have held the turnover edge in 15 games with one draw while opponents have held the edge 10 times.  

HELPING HAND
With 110 assists this season, senior guard Pat Thomas has the 4th best single season total of Mary's NCAA era. With at least three games to go he could reach Anthony Moody's top year of 126 in 2010-11. Thomas is 18th in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.89 and is 6th in the NSIC in assists per game at 4.2. He missed the Marauders NCAA-era school single game assist record by one as his passes directly led to 10 baskets for Mary against Yellowstone Christian. Thomas also added 10 points against the Centurions for the first Marauders double double of the season.

THE BORTKE COURT MAC ATTACK
After struggling at home the last few seasons, Mary is once again finding success at the McDowell Activity Center (MAC). The playing floor was christened Bortke Court in honor of long-time 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
2016-17:       8-  6
The Marauders once won 27 straight home games for Coach Bortke
at the MAC (February 19, 1976 thru November 11, 1978).

LISTEN LIVE
University of Mary fans can listen to all Marauders conference games live on Fox Sports 710 as Rick Anthony, the Voice of the Marauders, brings you all the game action. You can also listen live online at www.foxsports710.com. Click the "Listen Live" link to stream the game in real time.