UMC MEN’S BASKETBALL USES STRONG SECOND HALF TO BEAT MAYVILLE STATE

The University of Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagle Men’s Basketball team used a 24-4 run to start the second half to beat the Mayville State Commets 81-70 in the final exhibition game of the season in a game played at Lysaker Gymnasium in Crookston.

UMC jumped out to a 7-3 lead four minutes into the game with a layup from Zen Goodridge, a basket from Leonard Dixon and a three pointer from Uzo Dibiamaka.  Mayville State responded with an 8-3 run to take an 11-3 lead two minutes later.  The first-half was a good back-and-forth battle the rest of the way as UMC answered with Dixon scoring four straight points, followed by a Zach Westphal layup for a 16-11 lead.  Mayville State battled back to tie the game at 23-23 with 7:24 left in the half.  The teams exchanged points for the final seven minutes and Mayville State scored the final five points of the half, all in the final 36 seconds to take a 39-36 lead into halftime.   Both teams shot exactly 50 percent from the field, while UMC out rebounded Mayville State 21-10.  

UMC started the second half on fire on the offensive and defensive end as they outscored Mayville State 24-4 in the first eight minutes of the half for a 60-43 lead with 12 minutes left.  17 of the 24 points were scored by Dixon as he had all 32 of his points with 12:09 let in the game!  Mayville slowly chipped away at the deficit and got within single digits (71-62) with 4:06 left in the game.  UMC answered with six points of their own to build a 77-62 lead and held on in the final two minutes for an 81-70 victory.

UMC improves to 2-0 in the exhibition season and will start the real season on Friday, November 12 when they take on East Central University at the University of Minnesota Duluth tournament at 4:00 p.m.  You can hear the game on KROX Radio with a pre-game at 3:30 p.m.