BISMARCK - When University of Mary foward Alex Dorr cooled off, Jalen Jaspers picked up the slack. When Jaspers' scoring went away, Josh Turner upped his production.
The Marauder trio combined for 35 points in the second half as Mary pulled away from Minot State and won 77-65 in front of 2,810 fans Saturday at the Bismarck Civic Center.
"That's the best thing is when we get everybody going, because when you have one guy going, it's tough because some people just stand around a little bit," Dorr said. "But we had everybody going, everybody was being aggressive, and it's tough for other teams to guard."
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Daniel Allar/MDN
Minot State University junior forward Chris East takes a jump shot over a University of Mary defender during a game Saturday at the Bismarck Civic Center.
The Beavers (1-3 overall, 0-1 Northern Sun) trailed early but went on a 20-5 run that spanned the end of the first half and the first minute of the second.
But after MSU took a 33-30 lead with that spurt, Mary (2-3, 1-0) responded with an 11-0 run that featured nine points from Dorr. The 6-foot-6 senior forward finished with game-highs of 23 points and nine rebounds.
Jaspers scored all 12 of his points in the second half and Turner had eight of his 17 after the break.
"Jalen's an offensive guy," Mary coach Jevin Budde said. "When he's able to score for us, it's a huge bonus for us. Turner and Dorr are going to be able to be our (Nos.) 1 and 2 guys scoring it, but Jalen hit some big shots for us tonight. ... What he gave us on the offensive end tonight was great, and that's what he needs to do."
MSU was efficient offensively during their run late in the first half, with guards driving to the hoop and dishing to the frontcourt trio of Josh Johnson, Kelvin Fraser and Chris East. Budde said the Marauders defended ball screens better in the second half, which stagnated the Beaver offense.
Meanwhile, the Marauders hit 52 percent from the field after the intermission and turned the ball over just 10 times in the game. A Jaspers layup with nine minutes, 27 seconds remaining gave the Marauders an 11-point cushion and the Beavers never got closer than eight the rest of the way.
"I think the biggest thing is we just didn't defend the way we'd prepared to defend," MSU coach Matt Murken said. "We had too many breakdowns on the defensive end of the court. It's very difficult to come from behind against them and they stretched it out to about 12 in the second half."
East led the Beavers with 15 points and eight rebounds. Sophomore Thomas Korf scored 12 points - all on second-half 3s - and Fraser chipped in 10 points.
The NSIC opener for both teams marked the first time the squads have squared off in a conference matchup since they were both members of the Dakota Athletic Conference in 2005.
MSU hosts Minnesota State-Moorhead at 8 p.m. Friday at the MSU Dome.