Northern State wins men's basketball tournament title

March 7, 2004

ST. PAUL, MN - Northern State ended the Minnesota-Duluth string of NSIC Men's Basketball Tournament titles by downing the Bulldogs 63-58 Sunday. The tournament title is the first for the Wolves (24-6), and earns them an automatic bid to the Division II Men’s Basketball Tournament. They are to expected to play Friday in Denver. The Bulldogs were tournament champions in 2002 and 2003.

“It feels great,” said Steve Smiley, who was also named tournament MVP. “The last two years we had the number one seed and got beat in the semifinals. We were just so excited to have a chance to play today. It took everything we had to pull it out.” Matt Hammer led the second-seeded Wolves with 18 points. Smiley and Aaron Busack had 14 points each. “If you would have told me we were going to hold them to 63 points I would have guaranteed you a win,” UMD coach Gary Holquist said. “We did a tremendous job defensively.” The Wolves entered the title tilt averaging 77.9 points per game. “Some nights we are really scoring well and some nights we’ve got to rely on our defense,” Smiley said. “We didn’t score as much tonight so we had to clamp down on defense and we did.” “There were two or three possessions here or there that could have went our way or their way, and they went their way,” Holquist said. “It’s a sign of a good basketball team that they won this game.” Yet, the victory was in question until almost the final buzzer. Northern State led 56-50 with 2:12 remaining before Ryan Breidenbach hit a three-pointer for fourth-seeded UMD with 1:09 remaining. It was the first Bulldog points in nearly five minutes. After Jared Obering hit two free throws with 25.4 seconds remaining to put the Wolves up by five, Breidenbach scored on a drive with 17.3 seconds left, but missed the subsequent free throw. Obering then hit one of two free throws before Breidenbach scored from outside the arc to make it 59-58 with 4.1 seconds remaining. “They hit the clutch shots, but we hit the free throws at the end and pulled it out,” Smiley said. Two more Obering free throws put the Wolves up by three with 3.5 seconds left. A long pass on the inbounds eluded everyone as the ‘Dogs hoped to get a chance for tying shot. Adam Grant scored with two seconds left on the inbound for the final points. “We defended a little better in the second half, and they missed some shots that they normally make” said Northern State coach Don Meyer. Trailing 30-23 at intermission and 38-33 five minutes into the second half, Northern State scored the next eight points, highlighted by a reverse lay up by Matt Hammer, before Dusty Decker tied the game with a three-point basket. Decker led UMD with 19 points. From there the Wolves were able to work they ball inside to take charge. “Our game plan is to get it inside,” Smiley said. “Aaron Busack is such a big part of what we do and so is Adam Grant.” Grant finished with 11 points. The loss ends the season for Minnesota-Duluth (18-12), which had gone 10-2 in their last 12 games at the Gangelhoff Center. It was also the last game as a conference member for the Bulldogs, who move to the North Central Conference next season. “This team overachieved the whole year,” Holquist said. “To put themselves in this position to play for the conference championship and go to the NCAA tournament is tremendous. This is the best group I’ve had to coach. Time just ran out.”

(Courtesy NSIC Website)

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