Dragon Men Open NSIC Play with 75-65 Win Over Northern

MOORHEAD, Minn. (MSUM Athletics) - The Minnesota State University Moorhead men’s basketball team opened Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play with a 75-65 home win over Northern State in action Tuesday night at Nemzek Fieldhouse.

The Dragons are now 5-3 overall and 1-0 in the NSIC while the Wolves fell to 4-3 overall and 0-1 in the league.

Sophomore forward Dane Zimmer had his third double-double of 2021-22 and his third in the last four games. He finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds.

Junior guard Lorenzo McGhee had 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting while junior guard Bryce Irsfeld had 11 points. Junior guard Gavin Baumgartner had four assists.

MSUM —which led the whole way and never trailed -- shot 61.7 percent (29-of-47) from the field while holding the Wolves to 35.9 percent (23-of-64) from the field.

MSUM opened on 23-6 run over the first 14-plus minutes as the defense held the Wolves to 3-of-19 shooting from the field to open the game. Irsfeld had six points during the opening run while McGhee had five.

The Wolves cut the lead to 32-24 at halftime. They climbed within 46-45 with 12:18 left but the Dragons responded with a crucial 9-0 run, which included a three from McGhee, to push the lead to 55-45.

The Wolves were within 69-63 in the final minute, but Baumgartner drained a three from the top of the key to push the lead back to nine and the Wolves got no closer.

MSUM will host a pair of nonconference games this weekend, starting with Winona State at 1 p.m. on Friday.