Men's Basketball

 

Northern Men Downed 90-62 In NSIC Opener

 

WINONA, Minn.- The Northern State men could not have drawn a tougher opponent to open NSIC play for the 2006-07 season. Having lost to Winona State, the defending DII national champion, four times last season alone, the Wolves were hoping for a change in results. Unfortunately, the 2006-07 version of Warriors basketball had already pulled off several large wins in exhibition play and came into the game with a #1 national ranking. Their strengths proved to be too much for NSU as Northern dropped the conference opener 90-62.

Northern hung in with the Warriors for the first eight minutes of the game, matching Winona’s inside game with their own strength down low. The teams were knotted up 10-10 before WSU raced away with a 14-4 scoring run to take a 24-14 lead. From then on, the Wolves were forced to play catch-up as they tried to match the depth of the top-ranked team in the nation.

The Wolves made a series of defensive stops as Luke Wicks took over in scoring for the Wolves, bringing the score to 18-24. The Warriors put the lead back into double digits as they dominated the boards for easy put-backs. WSU hit shot after shot while the Wolves struggled to sink a bucket from anywhere on the court. The difference grew to 19 points before the clock expired as Winona took a 41-22 halftime lead.

Winona guard Zach Malvik hit 7-of-8 shots in the first half to lead WSU with 18 points, including a 4-of-4 three-point shooting performance. The Warriors shot 57.1% (16-28) from the field and out-rebounded the Wolves 19-13.

Northern shot 33.3% (10-30) from the field and was led by Kevin Ratzsch with eight points and Dan DeWitt with six points.

NSU scored the first bucket of the second half, a three-pointer from Ratzsch, but then gave up 11 unanswered Winona points to give WSU a 52-25 lead with 16:54 on the clock. As the game progressed, the Wolves made several small runs, only to be shut down by larger Warrior runs. WSU put up points on nearly every possession, draining long balls from downtown and laying in points from the paint. They put up 28 points in the first ten minutes of the second half alone, leading by 30, 60-39, with ten minutes to play.

The Wolves stopped the bleeding and contained the score to a 30 point difference for the remainder of the game. The Wolves showed a determination late in the game and, despite the large deficit, the squad continued to push with full effort. In the end, the Warriors took a 90-62 win.

Ratzsch ( Bloomington, IL) led the Wolves with 21 points and seven rebounds on the night. DeWitt ( Lino Lakes, MN) added 11 points and led the team with eight rebounds. He also dished out five assists. Luke Wicks ( Gillette, WY) also finished with double digits in scoring with 10 points. The Wolves shot 39.3% (24-61) from the field and hit 6-of-12 three-pointers. They had just eight turnovers but were out-rebounded 31-39.

The Warriors finished the game with a 55.7% (34-61) shooting performance, hitting 14-of-27 threes (51.9%), including ten three-pointers in the second half. Jonte Flowers tied Ratzsch for the scoring lead with 21 points from 9-of-12 shooting. He also posted a team high seven rebounds and had four assists. Malvik finished the game with 18 points, all posted in the first half. Travis Whipple had seven assists.

The win for Winona sets their season mark at 4-0 and 1-0 in the league. The Warriors have won each of their last 26 home games and are on a 16-game NSIC winning streak. The Wolves fall to 4-3 on the season and 0-1 in the NSIC. They will travel to Fayette, IA for a game against Upper Iowa Saturday night.

 

NSU HOME

NSU ATHLETICS