HANSEN DOMINATES, WOLVES ESCAPE CONCORDIA-ST. PAUL WITH WIN

January 26, 2002

Northern State senior center Brad Hansen (Tea, S.D.) exploded for 33 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks to lead Northern State past Concordia-St. Paul 80-77 Saturday night in a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference matchup in St. Paul.

Hansen went 9-of-11 from the field and made a living at the line to post his career high in points. The Lennox High School product more than rebounded from a 3-for-10 performance from the line at Winona State on Friday and proved that any hack-a-Hansen or bash-a-Brad strategy employed against him wouldn't work, going 15-of-20 from the line at CSP.

It was Hansen's second 30-point performance of the season, as he also posted 30 against Minnesota-Crookston earlier this year. Junior forward Sundance Wicks (Gillette, Wyo.) put up 13 points and nine rebounds, while senior post Andy Foster (Caledonia, Minn.) added 11 points to round out NSU's double-digit scorers. CSP (7-12, 4-7 NSIC) was led by Matt Tuttle's 17 points.

With the win, Northern (14-5, 9-2 NSIC) tied its total win count from last season (14-13 record in 2000-01). NSU holds a share of the of the NSIC lead with Minnesota-Duluth. The Wolves will try to give head coach Don Meyer his winningest season at Northern next week, when NSU hosts Southwest State and Wayne State (Neb.) Feb. 1 and 2.

Meyer is in his third year at Northern State and 30th overall. His career record is now 744-252, just three away from legendary Kansas coach Phog Allen's career total (746-264 through 48 years). Allen ranks 12th on college basketball's all-time winningest men's basketball coaching list.