BISMARCK, ND – A ferocious effort up and down the court combined with clutch play in the closing minutes carried the University of Mary men's basketball team to a 96-90 win over visiting MSU Moorhead.
 
This is the third Northern Sun win of the season for UMary, equaling the Marauders conference win total from a year ago. It is also UMary's second win this season over a team that competed in the 2025 NCAA tournament.
 
The two teams exchanged leads multiple times in the opening minutes of play before a pair of Andre Austin free throws gave the Marauders a 16-15 lead and sparked a 12-point run. Kelton Coleman followed Austin's freebies with a trey and a jumper, Jackson Ware hit a trey and Cayden Redfield scored in the paint for a 26-15 lead.
 
UMary never trailed again.
 
The Marauders (4-6 overall, 3-2 NSIC / NSIC North) lead eventually grew to 15 points when Tshawn Bois drained a trey before UMary entered halftime with a 49-38 lead.
 
Austin opened the second half scoring with a layup for a 13-point UMary lead. The Dragons (7-4 overall, 4-1 NSIC/NSIC North) responded with a 12-0 run to close within 51-50 on a Dominic Gooden basket. The UMary response was a basket by Ware and a triple by Parker Brodina to go up 56-50. The Marauders soon led by nine on an Amare Jackson 3-pointer.
 
Five times the Dragons closed within a single possession but each time UMary had a response, with much of the work coming at the line. Redfield scored UMary's last basket at 1:46 to boost the Marauders lead to 87-80. After the Dragons closed the gap to 87-84, Redfield hit a free throw for a 2-possession lead.
 
Gooden scored with 52 seconds to close within 89-87 but Jackson responded by hitting the first of two free throws. Jackson missed the second with 31 seconds to go but grabbed the rebound of his own free throw. Coleman was subsequently fouled and made both free throws for a 92-87 lead with 25 seconds on the clock.
 
A Dragons free throw closed the gap to four points but Coleman sank two more free throws for a 94-88 lead. MSUM scored one more time with three seconds left before Autin iced the game with two more free throws with one second on the clock.
 
Redfield paced the Marauders with 18 points in 18 minutes off the bench. He also had eight rebounds with two steals. Coleman made 6-of-8 free throws on the way to 17 points and made four steals. Ware drained four treys in six attempts and finished the with 16 points.
 
Austin scored 15 points and delivered eight assists, both career-highs for the freshman from Bismarck, ND. He made 8-of-11 free throws.
 
Overall all 10 Marauders who played posted points.
 
Tamarrein Henderson led UMary with nine rebounds. The Marauders finished the game with a 48-43 advantage in rebounds, including a 20-12 edge on the offensive glass.
 
Gooden paced the Dragons with 24 points.  Sam Hastreiler had 17 points on four treys and posted 10 rebounds and five assists. Isa El-Amin also had 17 points and delivered four assists.
 
 MSUM finished the game making 46.9% of its shots with a 9-of-25 effort from behind the arc. UMary shot 40.5% overall and was 12-of-35 on treys. The Marauders made 24-of-34 free throw attempts with the Dragons finishing 21-of-29.
 
This was the first win for UMary over MSU Moorhead since December 2, 2021, snapping a 7-game Dragons win streak over the Marauders.
 
UMary plays its next two games on the road with a visit to Bemidji State University on Thursday, December 18, and the University of Minnesota Duluth on Saturday, December 20.
 
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