Dec. 11, 2002

Bemidji, Minn. - Bemidji State (4-4, 0-0 NSIC) scored 13 of the game’s first 15 points and never led by less than five points from that point on in its 102-67 non-conference victory over St. Scholastica (2-7, 0-0 UMAC) at the BSU Gymnasium. Junior forward Charles Hanks (Chicago, Ill.) turned in his fifth career double-double with a game-high 21 points and 15 rebounds as he led five BSU scorers in double figures.

“ We had 13 turnovers in the first half and cut that down to five in the second,” said head coach Jeff Guiot. “Although we still need to cut down, we are getting better and making strides. As a coach, the toughest thing is to be patient, even more so with me because I am a demanding coach. Patience is a virtue though.”

A lay-up off a steal by freshman guard Jamal Clements (Parkhill, Colo.) capped a 13-2 BSU run 3:35 into the contest. After the Saints from St. Scholastica got settled in and were down by 12 at 20-8, they went on a 8-1 spurt. That would be as close as they would get in the game as BSU scorched back with a 35-17 run to close out the first half.

A key moment of that run came with the Beaver defense limiting the Saints to one basket for 3:27 while notching 13. CSS committed six turnovers during that span as the Beavers went up by a count of 49-28 with 2:00 to play in the first half. The half ended with BSU up 56-33 as Hanks already had 14 points and 10 rebounds. Bemidji State forced 18 CSS turnovers and led the rebounding battle (23-13) after 20 minutes of play.

The 22-point cushion would get no smaller until St. Scholastica got to within 17 on two occasions with the last one being at the 15:29 mark of the second half. From there, the game was out of reach for the Saints as the full-court trapping defense on the part of the Beavers was too much.

CSS was forced into 34 turnovers while BSU had 18 overall, 13 of those coming in the first frame. The Beavers doubled up the Saints in assists (26-13) and held a 25-6 advantage in steals as well as maintaining a slim 41-34 rebounding edge.

Senior center Ben Caron (Bemidji, Minn.) followed Hanks in scoring with 13 while junior guard Adam Daley (Des Moines, Iowa) had 12 and Clements and senior guard Stan Johnson (Salt Lake City, Utah) each had 11 points. Senior guard Royce Bryan(Haviland, Kan.) led the club with seven assists and tied for the team lead with Johnson in steals with five.

For the visitors, Chris Rauschenfels led three scorers in double figures with 13. Mike Muckala followed with 12 points while Scott Johnson had 10 and chipped in four assists and two steals.

On tap for the Beavers is #11 Michigan Tech on Saturday. Tip-off is set for 3:00 p.m. at the BSU Gymnasium.

“Michigan Tech is nationally ranked and they are a deserved team of that honor,” said Guiot on his thoughts about BSU’s next opponent. “It will be a good game to end with before we start conference play.”


Notes: With seven assists on the night, Royce Bryan ties himself for eighth on the school’s career assists lists with 183 as he was sitting tied for ninth before tonight’s effort - he is seven shy of the seventh spot...Hanks went for a .714 clip (10-14) from the floor as he was the last BSU player to shoot .600 per cent or better with at least eight attempts a game - he did it against Winona State (2/27/02) as he went 8 for 12 (.666) from the floor...The 102 points scored ties the high mark set this season against UW-Superior (12/2/02)...The BSU margin of victory for BSU is the largest in the overall series against CSS...With the win, BSU moves to 13-3 against the Saints when played in Bemidji, Minn...With BSU torching UW-Superior and St. Scholastica for 102 points, the last time the Beavers scored 100 points twice in a season was the 1993-94 campaign...Reaching the century mark for the second time in three games also is a feat that has not been done in a while as BSU scored 104 (11/20/93) and 107 (12/2/93).