Men's Basketball

Dec. 29th, 2006 -Aberdeen, S.D.	1st	2nd	Final	Records
Hastings College	33	32	65	9-6
Northern State University	37	32	69	9-4

Craig Nelson hit five three-pointers to lead NSU with 22 points (file photo)

NSU Survives Hastings College

December 29, 2006
ABERDEEN, SD - The Northern State men’s basketball team gave up large leads in both halves of Friday night’s game against Hasting College (9-6) but survived the Bronco pressure to hang on for a 69-65 win. The Wolves are 9-5 on the season and will return to NSIC action next weekend with games at MSU Moorhead and Concordia-St. Paul.

The Wolves shot 58.3 percent from the field in the first half but took just a slim 37-33 lead at the break. The teams hit nearly identical figures in the half, with Northern sinking 14 field goals to Hasting’s 13, five threes to their opponent’s three, and each team hit four shots from the line. Northern claimed a slim 15-14 lead in rebounding and was led by Kevin Ratzsch and Craig Nelson with 14 and 12 points, respectively. NSU led by as many as 13 points in the half but was outscored 5 to 13 in the final six minutes.

Northern took back a large lead again in the second half, keeping Hastings to just seven points in the first eight minutes before leading 53-40. As the story went in the first half, however, the Wolves’ large margin was diminished in the last minutes of the period. The closest the game got was a two point margin in the final minute of the game. A Jeremiah Slough three-pointer brought the score to 64-61 at the 1:32 mark. The Broncos brought the score to 67-65 but with mere seconds left on the clock, the Wolves stuck it out and clinched the win. NSU’s winning streak stays alive at three games.

Northern shot 48.1 percent in the game (25-52) but was out-rebounded 38-34. The Broncos shot 39.4% from the field (26-66) but struggled at the charity stripe, connecting on just 7-of-12 shots (58.3%). The Wolves gave up nine turnovers, leading to 11 HC points.

The Wolves were led by Craig Nelson with 22 points from 7-of-13 shooting. He hit 5-of-10 three-pointers on the night. Kevin Ratzsch added 15 points and two blocked shots, while Levi Hamilton led the team with seven rebounds.

With 26 points, center Bobby Kempf was the leading Broncos scorer. Krae Dutoit and Jeremiah Slough each added 10 points. Kempf and Mike Snyder led the team with seven rebounds each.