[box score]

Feb. 6, 2004

BEMIDJI, Minn. -- Bemidji State received some clutch shooting and hit on its foul shots late in the 96-85 men’s basketball victory over Winona State tonight at the BSU Gymnasium. The win was the sixth straight over the Warriors and overall, the Beavers have been victorious in their last 10 games against NSIC opposition at the BSU Gymnasium.

Senior Adam Daley hit his second three-pointer of the night with 1:10 remaining to give the Beavers a 90-81 cushion. Also, BSU hit on six-of-eight free throws under the final minute to seal its positioning of first-place in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference race. Idle Northern State stands one-game back with a 8-2 league log.

Senior Charles Hanks recorded 31 points and eight rebounds for his fourth 30-point effort this season. He extended his streak of double-digit scoring to 21 games; the last time he was held under double figures was against Minnesota State, Moorhead in the NSIC Semifinals last March.

The Beavers, which moved to 18-7 on Friday’s, improved to 14-7 overall and 9-1 in the league. The Warriors, which were picked first in the NSIC Preseason Poll, drop to 11-10 overall and 5-5 in the NSIC.

Both clubs shot extremely well in the early going with the Beavers having the upper hand throughout. Never trailing the entire contest, BSU went up 15-8 after a turn-around jumper by freshman Marlon Walker at the 15:19 mark. The Warriors cut the deficit to two once and three points on one occasion.

But the Beaver offense clicked, going up 49-42 at the half thanks to a 10-4 run with about two minutes remaining. The lead was an omen for a BSU team that is 44-6 since 2000 when holding the lead after the first 20 minutes.

The second half saw WSU trim the deficit to one several times, the last at 74-73 at the 6:23 mark. A momentum-shifting trifecta by senior Jamal Clements ignited a 13-8 burst before Daley’s big bomb from the right corner sent the crowd home in delight.

For the game, the Beavers shot 53 percent from the floor, its eighth occasion of over 50 percent this season. Also, they went 17-of-21 (.810) from the foul line and nine-of-23 (.391) from three point land.

Meanwhile, the Warriors were 49 percent from the field, but just 31 percent from three-point land. The rebounding battle was dead even (36-36) but BSU held a 21-9 advantage in assists and eight-to-two in blocks; the blocks total is a season-high.

Junior Sherwin Johnson came away with 16 points and six rebounds while junior James Roberson, who holds the school record with 13 assists set earlier this year, tallied 11 points and 11 assists for his first career double-double. Junior Ian Atkins, who entered the game 30th in the country in blocks per game (1.7), totaled five blocks, five points and five assists.

WSU received balanced scoring from four players with John Hopf leading the way with 20 points on nine-of-12 shooting. Jon Urbach went for 19 points while Travis Leech had 17 points and tied for team-high rebounding honors with seven boards.

The Beavers welcome Concordia-St. Paul to the BSU Gymnasium tomorrow (Saturday) as they do battle at 8:00 p.m. The Golden Bears slid to 2-7 in the league and 4-15 overall with a 94-85 loss to Minnesota-Crookston tonight.


NOTE: The Beavers have won the last six meetings with the Warriors and maintain a 64-72 overall mark...The scoring streak by Charles Hanks is the longest such streak for a Beaver player since Kevin Nichols posted 10-plus points in all 26 of his games in 1993-94...Hanks moved into third place on the BSU career scoring charts and seventh on the NSIC career scoring list, he stands with 1,426 career points with 901 of those coming in league action...Last weekend, Adam Daley set the school mark for career three-pointers, he currently stands with 130 after two tonight...BSU moved to 13-3 in February under coach Jeff Guiot...Since 2000, BSU improves to 23-0 when scoring 90 or more points...The Beavers entered the game first in the conference in 14 statistical categories...With the +12 advantage in assists, BSU has now gone 18 games notching more assists than the opponent.