Feb. 24, 2001

Northern State proved it can play with anyone in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Saturday night in Winona, but the Wolves weren't able to seal the deal in a 77-79 loss to the conference second-seeded Warriors.

NSU (14-12, 10-8 NSIC) took a 38-37 lead on the first score of the second half and would build to an 11-point margin before WSU (18-8, 15-3 NSIC) came back. The Warriors exploded with a 13-2 run in two minutes of play to knot the score at 63-63 with just over six minutes remaining. From there, the teams stood toe-to-toe and battled the rest of the way, with nine lead-changes taking place in the final six minutes.

Junior point guard Roland Williams hit what could have been a game-winning 3-pointer with 13 seconds left. The clutch shot gave NSU a 77-75 lead, but WSU answered with a rare four-point play as Brian Puls nailed a trey of his own with seven seconds left and was fouled. Puls hit the ensuing free-throw, and NSU tried but couldn't respond to that miracle.

Junior forward Brad Hansen (Tea) led all scorers with 21 points on a near-perfect 10-of-11 shooting to go with six rebounds. Junior guard Drew Gruver (Scott City, Kan.) was next on NSU's scoring list with 15 points. Senior post Ben Dahl (Cottonwood, Minn.) rounded out NSU's double-digit scorers with 10 points. NSU sophomore forward Sundance Wicks (Gillette, Wyo.) dished out a team-high nine assists to go with seven points and a team-high seven boards. Kyle Schlaak and Puls led WSU with 20 points apiece.