Jan. 14, 2005

BEMIDJI, Minn. -- [box score] Junior guard Alvin Muse (South Holland, Ill.) hit 9-of-14 shot attempts including a 5-of-8 performance from behind the arc to equal a season-high 26 points and lead the Bemidji State University men's basketball team to a 68-61 victory over MSU-Moorhead tonight in front of 897 at the BSU Gymnasium. The win was BSU's third of the young conference season and its 14th consecutive win over an NSIC foe on its home court.

After trading the lead five times in the first eight minutes of play, the Beavers took an eight-point lead with 10:12 to go in the half (20-12) sparked by back-to-back three-pointers by senior Mike Fore (Bagley, Minn.) who matched his career-best 11 points in the game.

MSU-Moorhead bounced back taking the lead (28-27) with 3:18 left in the first pouring in 16 of the next 23 points.

The Dragons would increase their lead to as many as three points just 2:12 before the halftime horn sounded but Derrick Beechum's (Davenport, Iowa) lay-up with 73 seconds to go cut the MSUM lead to one (30-29) and Fore's third trey of the game with under ten seconds to go put BSU up 32-31 at the break.

"The first half we could never get any kind of offense consistency," stated BSU head coach Patrick Smith. "We never put together two or three trips down the court in a row where we scored. We finally got up by six or seven [points] and then went over three minutes without scoring."

Muse showed his hot hand early in the second stanza hitting a three just seven seconds into the half. A quick lay-up by Amir Major (Chicago, Ill.) gave BSU a five point lead (36-31)--an advantage the Beavers would hover around for the next 12 minutes before the Dragons, down 54-48, rattle off six consecutive point to regain the lead 55-54 with just under four minutes to play.

After a 30-second timeout by coach Smith, the Beavers responded with a six-point run of their own sparked by a Muse three followed by a Beechum steal who found Spencer Carter (Chicago, Ill.) for an open dunk.

Carter would pull down one of his team-high nine rebounds on the Dragons' next trip down the court only to get fouled and sink BSU's first two free-throw attempts of the night with 2:48 to go in the game.

During the final three minutes of play, BSU managed to hit 7-of-10 attempts from the stripe, shrinking the MSU-Moorhead foul-shooting advantage to 25-10.

I addition to Muse and Fore, Carter rounded out the Beavers' top scorers with 10 points. James Roberson (Chicago, Ill.) and Beechum each totaled five assists to tie for the game-high.

The Dragons were led by Ribas Globys who went 6-for-10 form the field, 1-of-4 from three-point range and 5-for-6 from the line. Chris Anderson added a team-high four assists while grabbing seven rebounds as MSU-Moorhead garnered a 36-25 advantage on the glass.

"I think this was the type of game we needed," said coach Smith. "This type of game tells you what you are made of. It really forced us to reach inside." He added, "I am please with the effort our guys gave tonight."

Bemidji State will be back in action tomorrow (Jan. 15) when it host Northern State University in match-up that will decide who sits atop the NSIC standings alone at 4-0 as both teams enter the game toting perfect league marks (3-0). The game is scheduled for an 8:00 p.m. tip-off in the BSU Gymnasium.