Men's Basketball

Wolves Take Season Opener 84-55


Dan Magrino dunks in NSU's 84-55 season-opening win.

November 15 , 2006
ABERDEEN, SD – The Northern State men’s basketball team shot 50.7% from the field on their way to a season opening win over Mount Marty College Wednesday night in Wachs Arena. The Wolves kept the Lancers to just 55 points, taking the win 84-55 in front of 2,375 fans.

The Wolves started the game on a swift 12-2 run, gaining five points and a steal from sophomore forward Kevin Ratzsch. They continued to roll with a mix of inside and outside shots, pushing the score to 23-8 by the 13:19 mark. By the midpoint of the half, the Wolves led by 20 points. The Lancers began to gain boards on the defensive end and narrowed the gap to 13 points with 4:10 remaining in the half, but that would be the closest they would get before the buzzer sounded. Northern took a 50-31 at halftime.

The Lancers kept up with the Wolves better in the second half of the game, unable to narrow the gap but losing less ground in the game than in the first half. They found success in hitting the boards hard and drawing Northern fouls. The teams traded buckets for the first five minutes of the second half before NSU pushed the score higher. Starting with a Dan DeWitt three-pointer at the 14:41 mark, the Wolves went on a 15-4 run and led by a game high 34 points. The run was capped by a Craig Nelson three-pointer to push the score to 72-38 with 10:55 remaining.

There was a scoring drought for the next five minutes of the game, with NSU and MMC combining for just nine points, nine of which went to the Lancers. The lull was ended as Dan Magrino got the crowd on their feet with the team’s first dunk of the season at the 3:38 mark of the game, putting the Wolves up 77-51. NSU finished the contest with five unanswered points and kept the Lancers scoreless for the final two minutes of the game. They took the win by 29 points, 84-55.

Northern State had four players finish the game with double digits in scoring. They were led by Kevin Ratzsch with 15 points, followed by Levi Hamilton with 13, Craig Nelson with 11, and Dan DeWitt with 10. DeWitt dished out a career high seven assists on the night, while Nick Schultz led the team on the boards with five rebounds. Each active player on the roster played at least nine minutes and all but one player put points on the board. NSU had 10 turnovers, 12 steals, three blocked shots, and hit seven threes in the win. They beat the Lancers on the boards by a mark of 36-29.

Mount Marty received 17 points from guard Pat Anderson and 12 points from Doug Bates. Alan Hough led all players with seven rebounds and had four assists. The Lancers shot 43.5% from the field, but turned the ball over 21 times, leading to 35 NSU points.

The Wolves start the season with a 1-0 record and look forward to hosting Midland Lutheran College and Augustana College this weekend. Game times are set for 7:00 both nights at Wachs Arena. The loss drops Mount Marty’s record to 1-4 on the season.

 

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