Jan. 7, 2005

WINONA, Minn.– [box score] The Bemidji State University men's basketball team used a 10-1 scoring run during the final four minutes of play Saturday to gain an important Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference win over No. 14 Winona State University, 84-79. Derik Hollyfield (Sr., G, Aurora, Ill.) netted two of his career-best seven three-pointers during the run as the senior sparked the team to a road win with 23 points.

After trailing by as many as 15 points late in the first half, Winona State slowly chipped away at the BSU advantage during the final 20 minutes taking its first lead (67-66) since the 10:36 make of the first half on a dunk by John Smith with just over four minutes to play. But the Beavers would counter with 10 of the next 11 points to regain the lead for good, pushing on to victory over the nationally-ranked Warriors.

The first half belonged to the Beavers. After giving up the first seven point of the game, BSU stormed back to go on a 15-6 run capped by a Stacy Pearson-Taylor (Sr., F, Miami, Fla.) layup to take its first lead of the game midway though the first half.

After trading baskets on the next two possessions, another Pearson-Taylor lay in would give the Beavers a two-point advantage (19-17) and spark an offensive swing in which BSU would extend its lead to 15 (33-18) netting 16 of the next 17 points.

BSU would head to the locker rooms holding a nine-point lead (40-31).

The Beavers' lead hovered around five points for the first 15 minutes of the second stanza, but when WSU made a late charge, Bemidji State was able to hold the Warriors off, claiming the five-point win on the road to even its conference record at 1-1 and steal its first road win of 2005-06.

Hollyfield paced the Beavers collecting 23 points on 7-of-10 from the field, hitting 7-of-9 from downtown to led a BSU team that shot nearly 70 percent from beyond the arc. Pearson-Taylor added 15 while Will Watson (Sr. G, Baton Rouge, La.) netted nine of his 14 points from the line.

Manual Guzman (Sr., C, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) grabbed a team-high 12 rebounds as BSU gained the win despite being beaten on the boards 52-40.

Winona State was led by John Smith who recorded game-highs of 26 points and 13 rebounds. David Zellmann added 18 points in the loss.

The win over the nationally-ranked Warriors marks the third top-25 team BSU has knocked off this season, defeating Pittsburg State and South Dakota previously.

Bemidji State moves to 6-8 on the year while evening its NSIC record to 1-1. The Beavers will be back in action next weekend as they travel to MSU-Moorhead and Northern State for another pair of NSIC match-ups. Both games are set to begin at 8 p.m.