MOORHEAD, MN – A second half offensive explosion keyed by clutch baskets down the stretch carried the University of Mary men's basketball team to a 78-73 road win over MSU Moorhead. Playing on the road for the first time in a month, UMary picked up its first victory away from home as five Marauders reached double figures in points. Jaylan White led the way with 19.
 
Trailing by six at intermission and by as many as seven early in the second half, the Marauders reeled off ten straight points to grab a 41-38 lead. The run was led by four points from Matthew Kreklow and a 3-pointer by Connor Hellebust.
 
Following four lead changes and a tie, a pair of Dennis Austin III free throws and a Richard Brown basket pushed the Marauders in front for good at 55-51 with 8:02 to play. Soon a Wyatt Carr 3-pointer boosted the Marauders advantage to seven before two White free throws generated a 64-56 lead with just over three minutes on the clock.
 
Refusing to go away, the Dragons fought their way within 71-68. After the Marauders failed to score, Tom Kubank was fouled grabbing a defensive rebound and proceeded to sink two free throws for a 73-68 advantage and 37 seconds remaining in the game.
 
Austin stopped the Dragons next possession with a steal but couldn't convert at the line, opening up the opportunity for the Dragons to climb within 73-70 on two Johnny Beeninga free throws.
 
Now down to 20 seconds with MSUM forced to foul, White sank four straight free throws to generate a 77-70 lead. Every point was needed as Gavin Baumgarten drained a trey for MSUM to get the Dragons within four points and a dozen seconds left. Johnnie Turner finally sealed the UMary victory with one final free throw after he was fouled hauling down a defensive rebound.
 
The win is the Marauders third in four Northern Sun games and improves UMary's overall season record to 6-4. MSUM is 7-5 and 1-3.
White was 11-of-12 at the free throw line on the way to a 19 point performance, leading the Marauders in scoring for the third straight game. He also added here assists and two steals.
 
Hellebust hit two treys, scored 12 points and had five rebounds.
 
Kreklow recorded 12 points and three rebounds.
 
For the second straight game Kubank snared 12 rebounds. He added 11 points to record his first double double of the season.
 
Perfect behind the arc in three attempts, Carr came off the bench to score 11 points. Austin had six points and six rebounds.
 
Addision Park led MSUM with 26 points, matching Carr by making all three of his 3-point attempts. Baumgartner had 15 points and 12 rebounds.
 
UMary shot 48.1 percent from the field for the game and 52 percent in the second half as the Marauders reeled off 47 points. At the line UMary converted 20-of-28 attempts, including a mark of 18-for-25 after intermission.
 
MSUM was held to 41.9 percent shooting in the second half and 45.5 for the game after making 50 percent of its field goal attempts in the first half. The Dragons made just 4-of-14 treys in the second half and 7-of-21 for the game while making 16-of-21 free throws.
 
Both teams hauled down 33 rebounds and committed 18 turnovers.
 
The Marauders finish their weekend road trip with a visit to Northern State University on Saturday, Dec. 15. Tip off is set for 6 pm.
 
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