THIS WEEK
Following three games on the road last week, the University of Mary men's baseball team returns to the McDowell Activity Center on Saturday, December 7, when the Marauders host 7^th ranked MSU Moorhead. The first home Northern Sun contest of the season for UMary tips off at 5:30 pm on Bortke Court.
 
FOLLOW LIVE
Links to live video and stats are available at www.GoUMary.com/coverage.
 
THE RECORDS
The Marauders are 3-7 overall and 1-0 in the Northern Sun… MSUM is 6-1 overall and 1-0 in the NSIC.
 
AFTER THE ACTION
Marauders fans should make plans to stop Buffalo Wild Wings following all home men's basketball contests. With two convenient Bismarck locations and great food and drink specials, it's easy to see why Buffalo Wild Winds is the preferred post-game hangout of Marauders Basketball! 
 
LAST WEEK
 
The Marauders played three games in South Dakota over Thanksgiving week and returned home with a pair of wins. UMary used a big first half and clutch play down the stretch to defeat Northern State 76-72, ending a 15-game losing streak to the Wolves. Ty Rogers led UMary with 19 points, Jeremiah Jones added 15 and Rich Ashu 10… UMary then played a pair of games at the Dakota Challenge in Rapid City, SD. Rogers scored a career-high 22 points and Kevin McGaskey added 16 in aa 90-68 loss to Black Hills State. The week concluded with a 68-60 win at South Dakota Mines. Rogers again led the way with 17 points, McGaskey added 16 and Jones chipped in 10.
 
TRIAL BY FIRE
Including UMary's next two opponents, the Marauders have faced an incredibly challenging schedule in the Marauders first 12 games that includes:

• Five teams in national polls (#RV MSU Billings, #RV St. Edward's, #RV Alaska-Anchorage, #7 MSU Moorhead, #20 Minot State)
• Six teams who won at least 20 games last season (#RV MSU Billings, #RV St. Edward's, #RV Alaska-Anchorage, Central Oklahoma, #7 MSU Moorhead, #20 Minot State)
• Three teams who made the 2024 NCAA tournament (MSU Billings, Alaska-Anchorage, MSU Moorhead)

 
HISTORY LESSON
The Marauders trail the Dragons 27-17 in the all-time series… MSUM owns five straight wins… Since joining the NCAA and NSIC, UMary is 12-24 against MSUM… The Marauder have won five of the last 13 games… 8 of the last 13 games were played in Moorhead… The Marauders won the first conference match-up 75-72 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 74-58 at home on Jan. 30, 2010, the first of five straight UMary 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… LAST UMARY WIN The Marauders downed the visiting Dragons 80-79 on 12/2/21. Kai Hunstberry gave the Marauders a 77-75 lead with 26 seconds left and UMary held off MSUM with a pair of free throws by Kam Warrens and one by Jacob Jackson. Huntsberry and Warrens both scored 18 for UMary… LAST MEETING: #9 MSUM downed UMary 83-64 in Bismarcck. Xavier Lewis had 13 points for the Marauders and Gunner Swanson added 12. Jacob Jennisen had 15 points for the Dragons.
 
ROGERS ON A ROLL
Three times last week Ty Rogers exceeded his previous career-high in scoring and led the Marauders in points all three games. The junior forward opened Thanksgiving week with 19 points in a 76-72 win at Northern State in the NSIC opener, draining 3-of-4 shots from behind the arc. He followed with 22 points against Black Hills State and 17 in a win over South Dakota Mines. In the three games he averaged 19.3 points/game and made 21-of-33 shots (64%) overall and was 6-for-10 on treys.  
 
STAT STUFFER
Jeremiah Jones ranks among the Northern Sun's top-25 in multiple categories:

• 1^st steals/game (2.7)
• 11^th field goal percentage (.482)
• 14^th points/game (13.9)
• 20^th 3-pointers/game (1.6)
• 21^st rebounds/game (5.9)
• 25^th assists (2.4)
• 25^th blocked shots/game (0.7)

 
STOP THIEF
Jeremiah Jones ranks 6^th in total steals (27) and 24^th in NCAA D2 in steals/game with 2.70 per game.
 
SHARING THE LOAD
Three Marauders are averaging over 10.0 points/game this season:

• Jeremiah Jones leads UMary in scoring at 13.9 ppg. He is shooting 48.2% from the field overall and 36.4% on treys. The sophomore guard, who missed last season due to injury, also leads the team in rebounding (5.9 rpg), steals (27) and is 2^nd in blocks (7) and assists (24). Jones has reached double figures in seven games with a season-high 23 against Valley City State.  
•  Kevin McGaskey, in his first season at UMary as a graduate transfer from Prairie View A&M, is scoring 10.9 ppg and leads the squad in assists (32). Six times he has scored ten or more points with a season-best 16 three times.
• Junior forward Ty Rogers averages 12.2 ppg. He is making 57.8% of his shots and is pulling down 3.6 rpg.

 
DEBUTS
Seven Marauders made their UMary debuts this season. Kevin McGaskey has started all ten games at guard. Cayden Redfield, Ty Johnson and Tamerrein Henderson have played key minutes off the bench in all seven contests with Daniel Hong playing in six. Wylee Delorme (4 games) and Matija Otasevic (3) also have seen their first action in the Blue & Orange this year.  
 
BLOCK PARTY
Rich Ashu led the Marauders in blocks last season with 1.0 per game and is off to a strong start this year with eight rejections in ten games (.8/game).
 
HIGH EFFICIENCY
Ty Rogers is converting an impressive amount of his shots. The junior forward is connecting on 57.8% of his field goal attempts through ten games and has reached double figures in scoring seven times. He scored a career-best 22 points against Black Hills State.
 
SHARING THE LOAD
11 Marauders scored points against Central Oklahoma while ten did so against Northeastern State. 
 
MCGASKEY NSIC PLAYER TO WATCH
 New arrival Kevin McGaskey is the preseason UMary Northern Sun Player to Watch for the Marauders in the 2024-25 season. A graduate transfer from NCAA Division I Prairie View A&M, McGaskey joins the Marauders after competing for two seasons for the Panthers. He played in 24 games in 2023-24, including 13 starts, for SWAC member PVAM. The 6-0 point guard averaged 4.0 points, 3.0 assists and 2.2 rebounds while making 35 steals and hitting 71.0% of his free throw attempts in 25.5 minutes of play per game. The native of Missouri City, Texas, and graduate of Hightower High School posted season highs of 12 points and six rebounds against Alcorn State.    McGaskey played with former Marauders guard Zyon Smith at Highland Community College in Highland, KS, from 2020-22. 
 
BACK IN THE BLUE & ORANGE
The Marauders have a strong returning. Ten players return from last season, including five who started ten or more games in 2023-24 and a 6^th player returning from injury:  

• Junior forward Xavier Lewis - the Marauders leading returning scorer (6.7 ppg) and rebounder (5.5 rpg) – started 16 out of 27 games
• Sophomore guard Alex Mattes, who started 13 games last season as a true freshman, chipped in 6.2 points per game
• Junior forward Ty Rogers averaged 5.7 ppg and 3.8 rpg while starting 10 games
• Junior guard Gunner Swanson hit 29 treys last season, tops among returners, while starting 18 games
• Senior forward Rich Ashu started 11 games for UMary and led the team in blocks (25 in 26 games)
• Junior guard Marquel Saleek played over 14 minutes per game and averaged 4.3 ppg and delivered 30 assists while starting one out of 27games
• Sophomore guard Nick Harrell averaged over 11 minutes per game in 19 outings while senior forward Liam Dougherty was limited to eight games by injury
• Guard Jeremiah Jones was a key reserve as a freshman in 2022-23 before missing all of last season due to injury. Jones averaged 6.7 ppg and 5.7 rpg while playing 24.2 minutes per game, the fourth most on the team. He led the team in steals (29) and was second in assists (64).
• Redshirt freshman guard Alex Dvorak looks to make his UMary debut this season.

 
FRESH FACES
The Marauders have added eight new faces for the 2024-25 season:

• Graduate transfer guard Kevin McGaskey joins the Marauders from NCAA Division I Prairie View A&M
• Other transfers include junior guard Daniel Hong (North Dakota), junior guard Ty Johnson (Highland (IL) CC), and junior guard/forward Cayden Redfield (United Tribes)
• Incoming freshmen are guard Wylee Delorme (Devils Lake, ND), Tamarrein Henderson (West Salem, WI), guard Ryan Larson (Jamestown, ND) and forward Matija Otasevic (Herceg Novi, Montenegro).

 
JONES NAMED TO TIPOFF CLASSIC ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Seeing his first action since February 2023 after missing all of the 2023-24 season due to injury, Jeremiah Jones returned to the court for the Marauders in impressive fashion. After averaging 12.3 points and 7.0 rebounds per game while adding eight assists and sight steals in three games, Jones was named to the 2024 D2CCA Tipoff Classic at the Trailhead all-tournament team. Jones opened with 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting – including a 2-for-3 effort on treys – while grabbing four rebounds and making three steals against host team MSU Billings. Jones hit three treys and scored 11 points against St. Edwards, adding seven rebounds, five assists and two steals. The sophomore guard finished the weekend with eight points, ten rebounds and three steals in a 73-72 win over Alaska Anchorage. He grabbed a key offensive rebound and was fouled trying to shoot with 1.7 seconds left in a tie game. After sinking the winning free throw, he protected the victory by knocking away a long inbound pass from the Seawolves. 
 
STAFF ADDITIONS
Marauders head coach Jack Nelson has several new faces on the bench alongside him this season. Bryan Forbes joins UMary as the lead assistant men's coach after serving as the head assistant coach at Briar Cliff the last five seasons following two years as the graduate assist at East Tennessee State University. Also joining the staff this season are DJ Sanchez, Nate Symens and former UMary player Zyon Smith.
 
YEAR FOUR
Head coach Jack Nelson enters year four with the Marauders. In his first season in 2020-21, the native of Dillon, CO, led UMary to its best conference record in four years. Nelson directed the Marauders to their first Northern Sun tournament road victory with an 82-70 win at Winona State to send UMary to the quarterfinals and a trip to the Sanford Pentagon. During the regular season the Marauders defeated #6 University of Minnesota Duluth 75-71, the highest ranked NCAA team UMary has beaten at home. Nelson recruited and coached Kai Huntsberry, the 2021-22 NSIC Newcomer of the Year and a 1st team all-conference selection who broke the NSIC tournament record for 3s in a game with eight. Prior to joining the Marauders Nelson was an assistant coach at the University of Sioux Falls (2018-21) and Minot State University (2012-16) in the Northern Sun and the head coach at Central Wyoming College (2016-18) for two seasons in between… In his first three seasons at UMary, Nelson has had scholar-athletes earn NSIC Newcomer of the Year honors (1), NSIC Player of the Week accolades (1), All-NSIC 1^st team recognition (1) and NSIC All-Academic Team honors (13).  
 
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