Feb. 12, 2000

Northern State defeated Minnesota-Duluth 66-61 on Parents' Night in the Barnett Center Saturday.

The Wolves featured a balanced attack led by sophomore post Brad Hansen (Tea), who scored 12 points. Junior center Ben Dahl (Cottonwood, Minn.) added 11 and senior guard Scott Hanson (Tolna, N.D.) 10 to round out the Wolves' double-digit scorers. Dahl and freshman forward Sundance Wicks (Gillette, Wyo.) each grabbed seven rebounds for NSU. UMD was led by Josh Quigley's 19 points.

NSU's solid showing on the night was tempered by the loss of senior guard Matt Sevareid (Mitchell), who left the game late in the first half with what was first reported as a broken arm.

NSU held the Bulldogs to just 29 percent shooting for the game. With the win, NSU stayed right in the thick of the conference top-four race. At the end of the regular season, the top four teams in the conference host the bottom four teams in the first round of the inaugural NSIC tournament. Winona State, Wayne State, Southwest State and Duluth all lead NSU in the conference standings, but with a Southwest loss Saturday night, the Wolves stand only a half-game back of the four slot.

UMD (13-12 overall, 10-4 NSIC) trailed for all but one early first-half possession in the game, but pulled to within four points in the final two minutes to make it interesting. NSU (12-11, 9-6), winners of its last four games, travels to Minnesota-Morris next weekend.