An early second half surge by the Bemidji State University men’s basketball team guided the Beavers to a 87-72 exhibition victory against University of Wisconsin-Superior Saturday at the BSU Gymnasium. The Beavers shot 54 percent from the field and 66.7 percent from beyond the arc in the game, getting points from eight different players.
“I thought we brought a high level of energy,” said head coach Matt Bowen. “The thing I like about this team so far is that we have a lot of pieces. We have different guys that can step up in different positions every night and its my job to figure out who that is. I thought our defense was better than what it was last year and we made some good adjustments in the second half that allowed us to pull away.”
The first half of the game saw expected miscues from the Beavers, getting their first real taste of competition. BSU still shot the ball well in the first, making 15-of-28 (53.6%), but had nine turnovers, zero steals and allowed 11 second chance points. The Yellowjackets owned the first half lead 38-37, making a late period run. Any momentum that UW-Superior had was lost in the locker room, as the Beavers stormed onto the court in the second frame and went on a 25-11 run during the first nine minutes of play to earn a 62-49 advantage. During the run six different BSU players scored, as lone senior Patrick Cassidy (F, St. Paul, Minn.) posted seven points.
The Yellowjackets cut the BSU lead down to six with just over five minutes remaining in regulation, but the Beavers were able kick it back up to 12 two minutes later on a 6-0 run, getting four points from junior guard Jake Lindstrom (Cottage Grove, Minn.), who led the team with 23 points. BSU was able to maintain the double-digit lead until the final buzzer, hitting 12-of-16 from the charity stripe.
Lindstrom’s 23 came from 6-of-9 shooting from the field, 8-of-9 from the line and a perfect 3-of-3 from three point range. Junior point guard Bryce Tesdahl (Crosby, Minn.) added 19 points to the mix, dishing out five assists, with four rebounds. Cassidy had 17 points and was a perfect 7-of-7 from the free throw line. Sophomore forward Mason Walters (Milton, Wis.) cleaned-up on the glass with 10 rebounds. Sophomore Burke Lendl (F, St. Michael, Minn.) started for BSU, shooting 3-for-3 from the field with eight points and six rebounds. The Beavers only turned the ball over seven times in the second half, gained four steals and held UW-Superior to 33.3 percent shooting from the field.
The Beavers begin the regular season on the road at Michigan Tech University Nov. 16 and Finlandia University Nov. 17. The home opener is Nov. 23 against University of Wisconsin-Stout, beginning at 7 p.m. BSU opens the NSIC schedule at home with a four game homestand, starting with Minnesota State University Moorhead Dec. 3 at 8 p.m.