[box score]

Jan. 17, 2004

BEMIDJI, MINN. -- The Bemidji State men’s basketball squad continued to roll with its seventh straight league victory to open up the NSIC slate with a 69-59 win over SW Minnesota State tonight at the BSU Gymnasium. The Beavers held SMSU to a season-low 32 percent shooting.

Senior Charles “Buster” Hanks continued his hot play, scoring 30 points for his second straight 30-plus point effort and 18th consecutive double-digit point total. The 30 points pushed Buster into 12th-place on the NSIC Career Scoring List as he sits with 832 points - he started the night in 17th-place.

BSU, which improves to 12-6 overall and a perfect 7-0 in the NSIC, moves to 17-2 since 2000 when holding an opponent under 40 percent after it held SMSU to just 32 percent shooting from the floor. The Mustangs drop to 7-10 and 1-5 in the league.

The hosts trailed for the first 1:53 but after a trifecta by junior Sherwin Johnson, the Beavers never were behind in the scoring column. BSU led by as many as 10 on two occasions in the first half, the second after a jumper by Hanks. Despite SMSU scoring 13 points in the final 6:20, BSU still held a 35-29 edge at the half.

An Elijah Starzl jumper trimmed the SMSU deficit to 40-35 at the 16:47 mark of the second, but BSU went on a 20-8 run to put the game out of reach. From there, the BSU offense went into stall mode and hit on its free throw attempts to seal its eighth straight home contest against NSIC competition.

For the game, BSU shot 41 percent, but just six-of-23 (.261) from three-point range. The Mustangs went three-of-22 (.136) from beyond the arc. Both teams turned the ball over just 10 times between them. The Mustangs went 74 percent from the foul line while BSU was 68 percent.

Johnson ended up with 10 points and five rebounds. Freshman Martez Young posted 10 points with two treys. Hanks was tops in the rebounding column with nine while junior Ian Atkins added eight boards and a career-high five blocks.

Rory Larson netted 18 points off the bench while Elijah Starzl went for 17 and eight rebounds. SMSU’s leading scorer, Jared Keaveny was held to six points on two-for-16 shooting; he averaged 17.6 points per contest coming into the game.

The Beavers look to extend their winning ways with an encounter at Minnesota Duluth Saturday, Jan. 24. Game-time is 3:00 p.m. from Romano Gymnasium.


NOTE: The Beavers move their record to 30-42 in the overall series with the Mustangs...The seven consecutive NSIC wins is the best to start a campaign since the 1971-72 club won its first eight league contests when BSU was a member of the Northern Intercollegiate Conference...Adam Daley got his 35-game streak of hitting on at least one trey halted tonight, he was zero-for-four from behind the arc...The 32 percent mark for the Mustangs is a BSU opposition season-low and the lowest since Minnesota-Morris went for a 29 percent clip, Jan. 11, 2002...With a 18-9 edge in assists, BSU has now gone nine consecutive contests with more dimes than the opposition...The seven-game winning streak overall ties the same stretch coach Jeff Guiots’ club did in late January through February during the 2001-02 season...Junior point guard James Roberson sat out with a sprained ankle and is listed as day-to-day - he suffered the injury in the win last night...The five blocks by Ian Atkins is the most since Daymon Jackson recorded five against Mayville State, Nov. 17, 2000...The BSU average margin of victory during the seven-game winning streak is +13.4 points...The six three-pointers by BSU snapped a seven-game streak in which it went for 10 or more and tied a season-low.