Dec. 9, 2003

DULUTH, MINN. -- Fresh off his league player of the week accolades, senior Charles Hanks lifted the Bemidji State men’s basketball program to a 99-82 victory over St. Scholastica tonight at the Leif Center. The All-American forward shot 15-of-18 from the floor, including a perfect seven-of-seven from the charity stripe, to record a season-high 37 points. He added 11 rebounds for his 11th career double-double.

The Beavers get back to .500 as they stand 5-5 on the year while the Saints fall to 3-4.

Hanks, who notched 20 points by the half, also moved into 10th place on the BSU Career Points List as he stands with 1,189 points. The Chicago, Ill., native scored six straight in BSU’s 19-8 game-opening run.

A free throw by the Saints Josh Gosar brought the hosts to within a 28-31 count as that capped a 20-12 run. But, BSU went nine-of-17 from the field in the final 7:28 of the half, rattling off 24 of the next 33 points. BSU held a 55-39 edge after the first 20 minutes, its highest points total of any half on the season.

The BSU lead never shrunk under six points for the rest of the game. CSS dwindled the deficit to 70-76 with 7:19 remaining. However, a jumper by Hanks sparked an 11-3 run to put the game out of reach.

BSU owned the glass, coming away with 51 caroms to 31 by St. Scholastica. From the field, BSU was 35-of-75 for 47 percent while the Saints were 27-of-60 for 45 percent. The guests hit on eight-of-30 (.267) three-pointers while CSS was nine-of-20 (.450).

The Beavers tied a season-high with 21 assists on the night.

The Beavers stopped a streak of nine consecutive games in which they were out-scored from the foul line. They held a 21-19 edge. Also, they shot a season-high 88 percent (21-of-24).

Junior Sherwin Johnson tallied a personal-high 19 points as he added eight rebounds. Senior Adam Daley continued his hot streak from long range with 11 points on three-of-six from downtown. He has now gone 28 straight games with at least one trey. Junior James Roberson hit for 10 points, his seventh contest of 10 or more points. He chipped in a career-high seven assists.

The Saints were led by the 20 points of Matt Inda. Chris Rauschenfels ended with 18 points while Josh Gosar had nine points and team-high 10 rebounds.

The Beavers travel to Grand Forks, N.D. for a tussle with North Dakota, Sunday, Dec. 14 at 3:00 p.m. The game was originally scheduled for Friday, Dec. 12 but changed due the Fighting Sioux football team playing in the Division II National Championship.


NOTE: The Beavers stand 21-5 against St. Scholastica in the overall series, winning 13 of the last 15 meetings...The Beavers improve to 18-8 when Charles Hanks scores 20 or more points in a single contest...The 37 points by Hanks is the most for any Beaver player since he recorded a school-best 44 against Winona State, March 1, 2003...Hanks has opened up the season with 10 games of double-digit scoring, leading the team eight times...On the BSU Career Points List, Hanks moved past Dale Harper and is just one shy of the ninth-best mark set my David Muelken...By having one fewer three-pointer, it marks the second game this season that BSU has been out-scored from long-range - Pittsburg had three more treys, Nov. 22...Before tonight, BSU was out-scored from the free throw line, 206-100 points on the season...The 88 percent shooting from the free throw line is the highest since BSU went 11-of-12 for 92 percent against MSU-Moorhead, March 8, 2003...The plus-20 BSU rebounding margin was the highest since it held a plus-21 edge against Valley City State, Nov. 27, 2000...With 21 assists, it was the third game for BSU to total 20 or more this season - this marks the first win.