Nov. 15, 2006

[box score]

DULUTH, Minn. (Romano Gymnasium) -- The Bemidji State University men's basketball team broke the seal on its 85th season of competitive play Wednesday evening with a 90-59 loss to long-time rival University of Minnesota Duluth at Romano Gymnasium in Duluth, Minn.

Jordan Nuness got the Bulldogs on the the board just 13-seconds into the game on the first of his six three-pointers on the night and UMD used a 30-57 (.520) shooting effort and 44-25 rebounding edge to claim the 31-point victory.

The Bulldogs never trailed in the game. BSU cut the UMD advantage to one point (5-4) on a pair of Arron Evans (Jr., G, Minneapolis, Minn.) free-throws just 1:20 into the game, but Nuness would drain another three to put the Bulldogs up by four (8-4) and kick start a 27-6 run giving UMD a 31-10 lead with 6:33 remaining in the first half.

Minnesota Duluth would go on to take a 41-23 advantage into the break and let BSU get no closer than 16 points (47-31) during the second half en route to spoiling head coach Matt Bowen's BSU coaching debut.

Nuness was one of four Bulldogs to score in double-figures recording 18. He was joined by Bryan Foss, who led all players with 22 points on 8-of-13 from the floor, as well as John Vaudreuil and Matt Rawley who netted 17 and 12 respectively.

In addition to solid offensive numbers, Foss equaled Rawley for a game-best nine rebounds.

Newcomers Andre Bell (Jr., PG, Chicago, Ill.) and Sergej Baskow (Fr., F, Ludwigsburg, Germany) paced the BSU offense scoring 12 points apiece as Bell used a 8-or-9 night at the line to post his career-best scoring effort. Evans added 10 points while Alex Smith (Jr., Miami, Fla.) dropped in six and grabbed a team-best five rebounds.

As a team Bemidji State was 20-for-53 (.377) on the night including a 4-for-12 (.333) performance from beyond the three-point arc.

BSU turned the ball over 15 times in the game while forcing 14 from UMD. Although the Beavers were able to turn those Minnesota Duluth miscues into 11 points, the Bulldogs put up 24 off BSU turnovers.

The win marks the third straight for UMD over BSU as the Bulldogs strengthen their hold on the all-time series moving to 79-35 versus the Beavers since the rivalry got its start in 1931.

The Beavers (0-1) will now make their first ever trip to Alaska for a a two-game set with the University of Alaska Anchorage. Friday the teams hook up for a 10 p.m. CST tilt and will come back Saturday evening at the same time to wrap up the rare consecutive game series. Live stats, audio and pay-per-view video of both games will be available at www.goseawolves.com.

--bsu--