ST. CLOUD, MN – Hoping to clinch a spot in the Northern Sun tournament, the University of Mary men's basketball team will need to wait a few more days for their next opportunity. Entering the day a game up on St. Cloud State University in NSIC North Division play, the visiting Marauders dropped an 80-70 decision to a Huskies team that had a strong night from behind the arc.
 
With two games remaining in the regular season, the Marauders are 11-13 overall, 7-13 in NSIC games and 4-8 in NSIC North games. The Huskies are 8-16, 6-14 and 4-8 in NSIC North play. The two teams split their regular season contests with the Marauders claiming a 91-77 home win over the Huskies in December. Additionally UMary is tied with Minot State in the overall NSIC standings and just one win behind in NSIC North division play as all three teams are in a tussle for the final two playoff slots.
 
The top six teams in both the NSIC North and South divisions make the league tournament. Based on their divisional records, the top two teams earn opening round byes and advance to the NSIC quarterfinals. The 3^rd and 4^th place teams host teams from the opposite division in the opening round with #6 playing at #3 and #5 traveling to #4.
 
The Marauders host NSIC-leading Northern State University on Thursday, February 16. Game time is 5:30 pm at the McDowell Activity Center on Senior Night for UMary. The Marauders finish the regular season at MSU Moorhead on Saturday, February 18.
 
Both teams found ways to score effectively in the opening half. The Marauders connected on a scintillating 57.1% of their shots with the bulk of the scoring coming close to the basket, outscoring the Huskies 24-12 in the paint. The Huskies, who shot just 43.3%, did the bulk of their scoring outside the arc by connecting on 7-of-15 3-point attempts. UMary was 2-for-8 behind the arc in a first half that ended with St. Cloud State leading 39-38 at intermission.
 
The Marauders claimed three leads in the second half, the last time on a pair of Ty Rogers free throws for a 45-44 advantage. Unable to score as efficiently as they had in the first half, the Marauders slowly began falling behind the Huskies. UMary remained within a single possession until the midpoint of the second half. Down as many as 12, the Marauders made a charge and closed within 68-62 on a Jeremiah Jones trey with 4:03 left in the game. St. Cloud State responded with a Tony Dahl 3-pointer and kept at least an eight point lead the rest of the game.
 
Kam Warrens led the Marauders with 18 points. The senior guard drained 8-of-13 shots and also led the squad with six rebounds and three assists.
 
Zyon Smith followed up his 14 point effort on Friday against the University of Minnesota Duluth with a 16 point effort at SCSU. He hit six of 13 shots overall and had two steals and two blocks. Treyton Mattern added 10 points.
 
A pair of Marauders starters returned to the floor after missing games to injury. Gertautas Urbonavicius, out the last three games, came off the bench to score nine points in 17 minutes. Lucas Mayer, out two games, was limited to 11 minutes off the bench.
 
Jones finished with five points and five rebounds.
 
Dahl knocked down all five of his 3-point attempts for SCSU and scored 17 points. Luke Taylor led all players with 22 points before fouling out.
 
Overall the Huskies finished 10-of-21 behind the arc and shot 47.5% overall. UMary made just 4-of-17 trey attempts but shot 50% overall for the game while making 23-of-37 from inside the 3-point line.
 
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