Box Score

ABERDEEN, S.D. – This one was a long time coming.

The Northern State University men’s basketball team pulled away with a 77-68 victory over Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference rivals Winona State to claim their first win over the Warriors in the last 12 meetings between the two teams in front of a crowd of 5,354.  The Wolves last beat the Warriors on March 5, 2005 in the conference tournament title game.

The win lifts the Wolves to 16-5 overall and 9-5 in conference play, while Winona, who entered the weekend ranked 19th in the nation’s top 25 and leading the conference standings, fell to 17-6 on the year and 10-4 in the league.

The battle on the court between two of the NCAA Central Region’s top-5 teams was often physical and intense throughout.  NSU, however, was able to hold the Warriors, ranked No. 1 in the country in 3-point shooting, to just 7 of 24 (29.2 percent) from long range while winning the rebound battle 45-23, not allowing the Warriors to get many second chance looks at the basket.

NSU battled back from a 9-point deficit in the first half and took the lead for good on a Mitch Boeck (Arlington, S.D.) trey with 1:37 left in the first half.  That lead, however, was far from solidified until the waning moments of the second half.  WSU cut it to one points at 55-54 with 5:50 left in the game, but two straight 3-pointers from Boeck and a Kevin Ratzsch (Bloomington, Ill.) basket later, the Wolves found themselves up by nine with under four minutes to play.

The Warriors, despite a pair of late treys, would get no closer than seven the rest of the way, as the Wolves went 10-for-10 from the free throw line in the final two minutes of play to put the game out of reach.

Ratzsch led all scorers with 24 points on 10 of 14 shooting from the floor, while Boeck poured in another 23 on the strength of five 3-pointers.  Ratzsch also grabbed 14 rebounds to notch his third double-double in the last five games.  NSU senior Kyle Schwan (Aberdeen, S.D.) added 11 points as the only three NSU players in double figures.

The Warriors were led by David Johnson’s 18 points.  Ben Fischer added 16, while Curtrel Robinson had 10 points off the bench.

The win avenges a Jan. 2 loss to the Warriors for the Wolves.  WSU claimed an 85-75 victory in Winona to start the 2009 calendar year.

NSU will be back in action tomorrow night as they take on Upper Iowa in another key NSIC matchup.  The Peacocks fell 57-61 at the University of Mary on Friday night and come into Saturday’s meeting with 4-17 overall and 3-11 NSIC marks.