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MSU men suffer another OT loss to Mankato

Alex Eisen/MDN Minot State's Dorian Aluyi (left) rises up for a jumper Friday evening against Minnesota State Mankato at the MSU Dome.

Attempting to retaliate after the heartbreak that occurred the last time the Minot State men’s basketball team came up short against Minnesota State Mankato, the Beavers (6-10, 1-6 NSIC) were dealt yet another overtime defeat by the Mavericks (10-3, 6-1 NSIC) at the Minot State Dome.

Mankato ended MSU’s season with an 87-79 overtime thriller in the NSIC Tournament last season and needed an extra frame to beat MSU in the 2017-18 regular season as well.

The Mavericks used the same formula Friday evening to beat the Beavers, 82-76.

“That’s the third straight (overtime) game we have had with them,” MSU head coach Matt Murken said. “In those three games, especially down the stretch, there have been a lot of basketball players making basketball plays.”

The Mavericks matched their conference-best 82.8 points per game and are now 1-7 all-time against the Beavers.

“Every (game) is difficult to drop,” Murken said. “You only get so many opportunities to come out and play. When you feel like you played hard enough to win and you feel like the guys on your team gave great effort, you want to see them rewarded with a victory.”

The Beavers led by as many as nine points in the first half, 17-8, but the Mavericks slowly worked their way back into the contest.

A physical and fast-paced affair went to halftime with MSU up 36-32 after Mankato’s Juwan McCloud sunk a long 3-pointer at the buzzer to cap the first half.

A coast-to-coast drive ending with a contested layup by David Akibo put the Beavers up 10 points, 48-38, with 12 minutes remaining. That was answered by Mankato. The Mavericks got within three points, 50-47, but the Beavers just kept chugging along.

With the shot clock winding down, MSU guard Max Cody launched a contested 3-pointer to extend the Beavers’ lead back out to 11 points, 60-49.

Kyle Beisch put his body on the line and drew a charge with 4:43 remaining. The Beavers were locked in on both sides of the court.

Mankato, however, forced overtime with free throws down the stretch, 67-67. Both teams were shaking at the charity stripe, but the Mavericks made enough free throws to keep the game alive.

Beisch missed a shot in the corner that would have won the game at the buzzer.

“They made shots down the stretch to close the gap and we had a great opportunity at the buzzer to walk out of here with a victory,” Murken said. “We had a wide-open shot from our best shooter, probably. We just didn’t finish. And in overtime we didn’t finish off enough plays.”

The Mavericks held the lead through the extra session. Akibo had a chance to even the score at 75-75, but had a 3-pointer rim out. Then, at the other end, Karson Arrenholz effectively put the game out of reach with a triple.

Mankato shot 42.4 percent from the floor in the 82-76 win. They were led by Carlos Anderson (20 points), McCloud (19) and Cameron Kirksey (17).

Three players also finished in double figures for the Beavers: Akibo (21), Cody (20) and Dorian Aluyi (16).

“What makes it frustrating is I think they played hard enough to win the game,” Murken said. “And played well enough for the most part to win the game, just to come up a little bit short. But, tomorrow, game less than 24 hours from now. Another home game and another chance to get a victory. Got to be resilient and got to bounce back.”

The Beavers return to action this evening against Concordia-St. Paul. The women play first at 3:30 p.m. with the men to follow at 5:30 p.m.

Alex Eisen covers Minot State athletics, the Minot Minotauros and high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @AEisen13.

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