BISMARCK, ND – Before their final home game of the season, the University of Mary men's basketball team honored five seniors making their last appearance at the McDowell Activity Center and awarded the 17^th annual Kevin Olson Award. While it was visiting #21 Northern State University who would win the game and claim the 2022-23 Northern Sun title outright, UMary came closer to earning a berth in the NSIC postseason tournament on a night about celebrating current teammates while honoring and remembering Marauders who helped build the program.
 
Despite the 93-67 loss to the Wolves (22-5 overall, 18-3 NSIC), who earned a 1^st round bye and free passage to the quarterfinals of the conference tournament, the Marauders (11-14, 7-14 NSIC) remain in control of their postseason destiny. Tied with Minot State for 5^th place in the NSIC North division standings, the Marauders are one game ahead of 7^th place St. Cloud State (9-17, 6-15 NSIC) with the top six teams advancing to the NSIC tournament. A win by UMary Saturday at MSU Moorhead (21-6, 16-5) against the second place team in the NSIC, or a loss by SCSU to Minnesota Crookston, propels the Marauders into an opening round postseason game on Wednesday, February 22.
 
Marauders seniors Lucas Mayer, Logan Nagorski, Veljko Radakovic, Gertautas Urbonavicius and Kam Warrens were honored prior to the game for their dedication and leadership for the UMary program.
 
Additionally Nagorski was awarded the Kevin Olson Award, presented to a Marauders senior men's basketball player who best exemplifies the attributes teammates associated with Olson, a member of the Marauders Hall of Fame; integrity, leadership and teamwork.
 
The Wolves knocked down their first eight shots of the game, taking a 20-6 lead over the Marauders before the visitors missed a shot. Down as many as 18, the Marauders entered intermission trailing the Wolves 48-34.
 
The Marauders came out strong in the second half as Treyton Mattern scored on UMary's first two possessions, both off assists by Gertautas Urbonavicius. A basket by Zyon Smith closed the gap to eight points at 48-40. After a slight surge by the Wolves, the Marauders sliced their deficit to single digits for one last time at 53-44 on a jumper by Jeremiah Jones. Another Wolves surge proved too much to overcome.
 
Smith led the Marauders with 18 points. Aggressive to the net and solid deep, the junior guard was 2-for-4 on treys and 8-of-17 overall. He also added two steals and four rebounds.
 
Treyton Mattern added 11 for UMary. An incredibly efficient 5-for-7 from the field, he drained his only 3-ball of the night. The Bismarck, ND, native also dished four assists and didn't commit a turnover.
 
In all 10 Marauders scored in the game. Jones came off the bench to score six points while grabbing a team-best seven boards. Ty Rogers added seven points. Radakovic and Gunner Swanson both had six points with Swanson knocking down both his trey attempts. Zavier Lewis hit both his shots for four points and had six rebounds.
 
Augustin Reade paced the Wolves with 24 points, making six 3-pointers in 10 tries. Overall the Wolves hit 16 treys in the game on 32 attempts. Josh Dilling and Jacksen Moni both had 13 points.
 
UMary matched Northern State's efforts on the boards with 29 rebounds each and had an 11-4 edge in points off turnovers while nearly matching the Wolves efforts in the paint, trailing just 36-34. While the Marauders also shot 50% (7-of-14) behind the arc, UMary couldn't match Northern State's volume.
 
UMary wraps up the regular season at MSU Moorhead on Saturday, February 18. Tip off is 3:30 pm at the Alex Nemzek Fieldhouse in Moorhead, MN.
 
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