WOLVES POWER WAY BACK INTO CONFERENCE LEAD

Jan. 12, 2002

With a dominating inside game and a little outside help, Northern remained atop the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference standings after defeating Bemidji State 93-69 in Bemidji Saturday night.

A night removed from a loss at Minnesota-Duluth that gave the team its second conference defeat and moved Bemidji State and Minnesota State-Moorhead into first place, the Wolves left little doubt from the opening tip and never trailed to hand BSU its second NSIC loss of the season and help create a log jam at the top. Minnesota State-Moorhead also lost Saturday to Winona State to give each of the top three teams in the conference two league losses.

The Wolves (11-5, 6-2 NSIC) used 47 points and 11 rebounds from senior centers Brad Hansen (Tea) and Andy Foster (Caledonia, Minn.) to simply overpower Bemidji State. NSU out-rebounded the Beavers 40-29 and shot 53 percent from the field on the night. BSU, which has made a living off of second-half comebacks this season, came only as close as 14 as the second half wore on. Bemidji resorted to fouling when NSU's post game proved too much, but the Wolves were up to the task, hitting 25-of-31 (81 percent) from the charity stripe on the night.

NSU was led by Hansen's 29 points and six rebounds. In the past three games, the terminator from Tea has scored 84 points. Foster was next on NSU's scoring list with 18 points to go with five rebounds. Junior forward Sundance Wicks (Gillette, Wyo.) led the team in rebounding with nine boards to go with 14 points and seven assists. BSU (8-7, 5-2 NSIC) was led by Terrence Watkins' 20 points.

NSU will round out the first half of the conference season next weekend with a home game against Minnesota-Morris.