Dec. 11, 1999

After leading by five points with less than five minutes remaining, Northern State battled but came up short at Southwest State 86-81 Saturday night in Mashall, Minn.

A steal by upstart freshman Ben Rops (Lennox) led to a bucket by junior post Ben Dahl (Cottonwood, Minn.) tied NSU's biggest lead of the game at 73-68 with 4:40 remaining in the second half. But that momentum builder was doused on SSU's next possession on a 3-pointer by Jacob Fahl that led to a tide-turning 13-2 Southwest run.

NSU (3-6, 0-2 NSIC) shot well despite the always raucous conditions on "Hawaiian Night" in SSU's R/A Facility, hitting 48 percent from the field for the game. But the Mustangs (5-2, 2-0 NSIC) shot the lights out in the second half at a 60 percent clip and were also aided by frequent trips to the charity stripe. The Mustangs visited the free-throw line 20 more times than did NSU (36-16) on the night.

Freshman forward Sundance Wicks (Gillette, Wyo.) led NSU with 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting and also grabbed five boards. Senior forward Dan Fischer (Bagley, Minn.) led NSU on the boards with eight to go with eight points. SSU was led by junior Scott Koenen's 25 points.

With the season's and perhaps the nation's toughest week-long road trip behind them (at South Dakota State, at Wayne State and at Southwest State), a young Wolves team still finding the fine line between competing and winning hosts North Dakota State Saturday.