Jan. 31, 2003


Bemidji, Minn. - At the BSU Gymnasium, Bemidji State (10-9, 6-4) and Southwest State (12-7, 8-2) combined for 28 three-pointers while SSU went four-for-four from the field, including four of six from the charity stripe, in overtime, to pull out a 87-83 NSIC win tonight.

Southwest State’s Jacob Fahl, after having three points at the half, scored 14 of his team’s 15 points in overtime to finish with a game-high 19 points.

After a lay-up, Fahl connected on three bombs to push the SSU lead to six at 83-77 with 1:29 remaining in the extra stanza. From there, the Beavers cut the gap to three on two occasions but Fahl made three of his four free throws and Brian Wiersma hit one of two from the charity stripe.

Southwest State built a 27-16 lead to open the game as it went nine of 14 (.643) from the floor during that stretch. The Beavers countered thanks to some long-distance shooting. Freshman guard Jamal Clements (Parkhill, Colo.) hit three of four and senior guard Aaron Kallhoff (Norfolk, Neb.) knocked down both of his attempts to propel BSU to a 23-15 run to close out the half. At one point, the hosts made five straight trifectas during a span of 2:27. SSU held a slim 42-39 edge at intermission.

BSU tied the score at 47-47 after two of junior forward Charles Hanks (Chicago, Ill.) 16 points with 14:45 remaining. The Mustangs grabbed the lead from there until BSU came back to take the lead, 65-62 after a free throw by senior guard Royce Bryan (Haviland, Kan.) at 5:13.

The lead went back to SSU at 1:38 after a Robert Steib jumper. With the Beavers down three at 72-69, junior guard Adam Daley (Des Moines, Iowa), who shot just two of nine from the floor, knocked down his only three-pointer to tie the score at 72-72. SSU’s Jimmy Dekker had a chance to win it for the guests but missed the front-end of a bonus situation as the game was forced into overtime.

BSU, which finished the contest at 51 percent (30 of 59), could only hit five-for-14 (.357) of its shots in the extra period. Rebounds were almost equal with the Mustangs getting one more (30-29) than the Beavers.

Senior guard Jeff Lorenson (Cannon Falls, Minn.) was just three shy of a career-high as he barreled down 18 points to pace the Beavers. Hanks, who notched his sixth career double-double and third on the season, pulled down 11 rebounds to go with his 16 points. Kallhoff, Clements and senior guard Stan Johnson (Salt Lake City, Utah) each chipped in 11 points apiece. Bryan had a career-high six steals in the game.

The Mustangs, who shot 38 percent (19 of 50) in the first meeting this year, finished at 54 percent (30 of 56), including 15 of 25 (.600) from long-distance. Fahl was followed in scoring by the 18 of Elijah Starzl and 16 from Wiersma.

With the win, the Mustangs maintained its first-place mark in the league and pushed the Beavers two games out of the race.

The Beavers play host to Wayne State (NE) (7-12, 5-5) tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. to finish a four-game streak at home. The Wildcats lost 68-65 to UM-Duluth (10-9, 6-4) tonight in Duluth, Minn.


Notes: Entering the game, BSU was second in the country with 10.7 three-pointers per game while SSU was 10th with 9.4 trifectas per contest...BSU allows just its fifth opponent on the season to shoot over 50 percent...With Southwest State having four more turnovers, this is the eighth straight game that a BSU opponent has done that...BSU finished the month of January with a 6-2 mark...In the all-time series, Southwest State has taken 16 of the last 17...Senior Chris Wallin (toe) dressed for tonight’s game but did not play - he has missed the last four games.