Jan. 4, 2003

Bemidji, Minn. - At the BSU Gymnasium tonight, Bemidji State (6-7, 2-2) hit on 11 first-half three-pointers and ended with 14 for the game and used suffocating defense to limit MSU Moorhead (9-2, 2-1) to 24.3 percent shooting in the second half for a 89-60 romp.

Bemidji State never trailed in the contest as it began its scoring, ironically, off a three-pointer by senior guard Jeff Lorenson (Cannon Falls, Minn.). The Dragons answered with a lay-up by Jared Bledsoe, who was the only Dragon in double-figures with 16 points, but that was the closest they would get. From there, BSU scored eight of the next ten points to take control. Six of BSU’s first eight field goals came from behind the arc. With the count at 16-12, BSU closed the half with a 35-21 run to go up 51-33 heading into the locker room.

Junior forward Charles Hanks (Chicago, Ill.) led all scorers at the break with 16 points, including four of five from long-range. Both teams shot well with BSU holding a slight advantage (55.9 percent-52.4 percent) over the Dragons.

The Bemidji State lead would never shrink below 15 points in the second half. In fact, the cushion would get to as many as 34 at 81-49 with 6:40 remaining. That margin was capped by a jumper on the part of freshman guard Jamal Clements(Parkhill, Colo.) to close out a 30-14 BSU run out of the break. For the remainder of the game, BSU played with several reserves as MSU Moorhead went on a 13-8 run to close it out.

Bemidji State shot 56.9 percent from the floor compared to 34.5 percent for the Dragons. The shooting mark by MSU Moorhead is the second lowest this season for a BSU opponent. The Dragons hurt themselves by hitting on just nine of 21 foul shots. BSU went nine-for-11 from that region.

Hanks led four Beavers in double-figures as he notched his fourth 20+ point effort this season with 22 on nine of 14 shooting. Junior guard Adam Daley (Des Moines, Iowa) tied a career-high with 17 points as he went five-for-six from three-point range. Senior center Ben Caron (Bemidji, Minn.) tallied 12 points while senior guard Aaron Kallhoff (Norfolk, Neb.) tied a personal-best with 10 points. Lorenson had a game-high in rebounds (six), assists (seven) and steals (three) for the Beavers. The output for rebounds and assists set a personal-best for Lorenson.

Kyle Staloch, the league’s leading assist player, chipped in nine points and tied with Lorenson for the rebounding high with six. He added four assists.

Bemidji State travels to face the Bulldogs from Minnesota-Duluth next Saturday. Start-time is 3:00 p.m.


Notes: The 14 three-point field goals tied a school record set on Feb. 15, 2002 against Northern State...The Beavers hold the conference record of three-point field goals attempted in a game as they have 42 against South Dakota State (11/30/02)...The 29-point Beaver win is the largest in the series (since 1971 season) since they won by 30, 97-67 on Jan. 29, 1987...The five three-pointers by Adam Daley is a career-high and BSU season-high...By having fewer turnovers than MSU, M tonight (13-16), BSU has gone five of the past six contests by achieving that feat.