Men’s Basketball to host Minnesota Duluth to start final four home games

Bemidji State University men’s basketball will host the University of Minnesota Duluth Feb. 12-13 at BSU Gymnasium for its first of two home weekends to close the 2020-21 regular season. The Beavers and Bulldogs open the weekend at 6 p.m. Friday and close at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at BSU Gymnasium in Bemidji, Minn.

Minnesota Duluth leads the all-time series against Bemidji State, 94-47. BSU won the most recent meeting, 83-76 on Feb. 22, 2020, to snap a four-game winning streak by UMD in the series. Senior forward Derek Thompson averaged 13.5 points and 6.5 rebounds per game last season against UMD and recorded 21 points and eight rebounds in BSU’s win against UMD last season.

The series began Feb. 21, 1931, a 28-26 win by Bemidji State in Duluth, Minn.

Bemidji State earned a sweep over St. Cloud State University Feb. 5-6 for its first winning streak of the season. The Beavers took down the Huskies, 88-78, on Friday before an 87-67 victory on Saturday in St. Cloud, Minn. On Friday, BSU recorded its second-best shooting night of the season while going 50.0 percent from the field (30-60) and adding eight 3-pointers and 20-of-22 on free throws. Though SCSU shot at a high percentage from the floor (46.8%), BSU won the rebound margin, 36-33, and outscored SCSU in second-chance points, 12-4. On Saturday, the Beavers jumped ahead early shooting 58.1 percent from the floor and 8-of-17 from beyond the arc in the first half before finishing the game 47.3 percent from the field with 15 total 3-pointers. Junior guard Mohamed Kone’s 12 rebounds on the night helped BSU dominate on the boards, outrebounding SCSU 45-29, which led to 16 second-chance points compared to five for the Huskies.

Thompson led BSU in scoring on the weekend with 20 points in each game on 51.5 percent shooting from the field (17-33). He now has four 20-point scoring games this season after recording back-to-back 20-point games at St. Cloud State.

Senior guard Nick Wagner averaged 19.0 points, 4.0 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game over the weekend. He recorded 30 points, two shy of his career-high, on 11-of-17 shooting overall and 8-of-14 from beyond the arc in BSU’s 87-67 win.

Kone scored 17.0 points per game and added 11.0 rebounds and 6.0 assists per game in the sweep over SCSU. He recorded a career-high 29 points with 10 rebounds, four assists and three steals for his second double-double of the season in BSU’s 88-78 win. Kone shot 48.1 percent from the field (13-27) in addition to recording his fourth game with at least 10 rebounds this season.

Senior guard Tyler Behrendt led BSU off the bench with 8.5 points per game. Thompson moved up one spot to 12th all-time at BSU in scoring and ranks ninth all-time in rebounds. He currently has 1,200 career points and 534 career rebounds with the Beavers.

Listen to the games this weekend on Talk Radio 106.3 and online at beaverradionetwork.com.