BSU Hits for School-Record 67 Percent From the Field

MARSHALL, Minn. -- [box score] The Bemidji State men’s basketball team bounced back from a defeat to Northern State last Saturday in a strong way with a 107-82 defeat of the Southwest Minnesota State Mustangs tonight at the R/A Facility.

BSU, which sweeps the Mustangs for the first time since the 1993-94 campaign, lost to NSU to drop into a first-place tie with the Wolves. BSU, which betters to 9-0 under coach Jeff Guiot when scoring 100 points, moves to 17-8 and 12-2 in the league.

The Mustangs fall to 9-15 and 3-10 in the conference. The Beavers rolled out to a 10-6 lead, never trailing in the game. A lay-up by freshman Marlon Walker capped a 7-0 BSU spurt to go up 17-10 with 13:33 remaining. After a fast-break lay-up by SMSU’s LaRon Dawn put the score at 19-24, the Beaver lead grew from there.

Senior Charles Hanks caught fire scoring eight straight points to put the Beavers up 30-21. From there, the guests held on to at least a seven-point advantage taking a 52-40 lead into the half.

Despite Hanks in foul trouble with two fouls in the first half, the inside play of Walker and junior Amir Major gave BSU an added scoring punch. Walker totaled nine-points in the first half, tying for his second highest season output. Major came away with seven points on two-of-two shooting as BSU shot 55 percent (16-of-29) from the field in the first half. BSU did not rest, hitting on 12 of its first 13 field goal attempts taking an 88-57 lead under 9:08 left in the game. During that stretch, the guests outscored SMSU 36-17. From there, the Beavers poured it on, nailing 85 percent of their shots in the second frame.

Adding to the school-best field goal percentage, the Beavers went for 59 percent (13-of-22) from long range and a 85 percent mark (28-of-33) from the foul line. On the flip side, SMSU went for 57 percent (31-of-54) including 70 percent (12-of-17) from the charity stripe.

Hanks led all scorers with 23 points on nine-of-10 shooting. Senior Jamal Clements added 20 points for just his second 20 point effort in his career. Junior Sherwin Johnson chipped in 15 points, senior Adam Daley 12, freshman Martez Young 11 and Walker 10.

It was the first time this year six Beavers have scored in double-figures.

Nic Hogan, which tied a career-high 15 points on five treys, tied for team-high honors with Joey Hulsebus in scoring honors. Dawn ended with 14 points for the Mustangs.

BSU will end its road portion of the NSIC regular season schedule with a trip to Wayne State (Neb.) tomorrow. The game gets underway at 8:00 p.m. at Rice Auditorium.

NOTE: In the overall series, BSU improves to 31-42 against the Mustangs, snapping a nine-game losing streak in Marshall, Minn...The league’s leading shot blocker in Ian Atkins missed his third game of the season tonight with an injured foot...BSU has maintained a three-year total of 51 victories, the most successful era since the 1971-74 clubs recorded 52 wins...BSU has posted 16 games of 10-plus three-pointers; it came into the weekend fourth in the country with 10.8 per game...Despite the Beavers being out-shot 633-437 from the free throw line this season, the Beavers hold a +15 advantage from the charity stripe tonight, the highest on the season...James Roberson is third on the BSU season assists list with 136, needing 10 more to take over the top spot...The Mustangs allow a team to hit for 100 points for the first time since the 1995-96 season...The last time BSU had six players with 10 points was against Winona State, March 3, 2003 in the NSIC Quarterfinals...The Beavers entered the game No. 10 in the North Central Region for the second consecutive week...The old field goal percentage mark was 63.3 percent against Minnesota-Morris (1/5/01).