Adam Papin/MDN Minot State’s Ben Bohl drives to the basket during the first half of the Beavers’ matchup with No. 2 ranked Minnesota State-Moorhead on Saturday, Dec. 17, 2023.

With two-and-a-half minutes left in the second half and Minot State trailing 70-69 to Minnesota State-Moorhead, the second ranked team in the country, Beavers’ senior guard Michael Jok felt he was roughed up a bit going up for an offensive rebound, and he let the referee know he thought a foul should have been called. After his objection proved fruitless, Jok dismissively waved his arm, drawing a technical foul.

Jacob Beeninga made the first of two resulting free throws for the Dragons, and teammate Logan Kinsley followed with a layup to put MSU-Moorhead up by four points.

Minot State never came back, falling to the Dragons, 77-74 at the MSU Dome on Saturday.

“It was an emotional game the whole time, with a lot of physical play and guys getting tied up. When it’s late like that you just can’t make that mistake,” said Minot State men’s basketball head coach Matt Murken. “It basically takes it from a two-point game to a three-point game, which changes your strategy the last two possessions we had.”

Despite the loss, Minot State battled the entire game, taking a two-point lead into halftime and never trailing by more than six points in the contest. Seven players reached double figures in scoring: four for MSU-Moorhead and three for Minot State. The Dragons’ Logan Kinsey led all scorers with 22 points and teammate Dane Zimmer recorded the game’s lone double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Beeninga finished with 19 points and Jamir Price also scored 10 for the Dragons.

“It’s my experience that anytime coming here, it’s always going to be a nitty gritty grinder game, and it’s always close,” said MSU-Moorhead men’s basketball head coach Tim Bergstraser. “I knew it was going to be a toss-up, and I always tell Matt [Murken], I think he’s an outstanding coach. How it unfolded is as I figured it was going to be, just back and forth throwing punches at each other.”

Khari Broadway led Minot State scorers with 20 points, while Minot High alum Ben Bohl finished with 13. Conner Hollenbeck scored 10 points for the Beavers.

“They [Minot State] almost had six guys in double figures,” said Bergstraser. “It was tough. We came into a tough environment, a place that people do not win a lot. We tried to run them off the three-point line, like a lot of teams are going to do, and at the same time they punched it inside on us.”

Kameron Givens finished with nine points. Teammates Michael Jok and Jaxon Gunville, a Minot High alum, each finished with eight points. Gunville added 10 rebounds, coming up just two points shy of a double double.

Other scorers for Minot State were Caleb Van De Griend with four points and Jalen Cook with two.

Minot State closed the first half with a 19-11 run to lead by two points at halftime.

The Beavers maintained their lead for the first five minutes of the second half, before Kinsey drained a three-point field goal to put the Dragons back.

MSU-Moorhead threatened to pull away from Minot State on multiple occasions after that, twice expanding their lead to six points, but the Beavers were able to claw back a two-point lead behind free throws from Hollenbeck.

It was the Beavers final lead of the game, as the Dragons outscored them 10-5 to close out the game. Minot State had an opportunity to send the game to overtime, but Gunville’s three-point attempt at the end of regulation fell short.

“We didn’t get off to the greatest of starts,” said Murken. “We had a little bit of turnover issues early, allowing them to build a little bit of a lead. But we responded pretty well, battling back to lead at halftime. We’ve got execute better down the stretch, and I’ve got to put us in a better situation to get a good shot.”

Despite the loss, Murken is confident moving forward, based on what he’s seen from the last two games.

“We’ve had two games back-to-back now, an overtime game against a good Northern State team, and then, of course, a one possession game the next game,” said Murken. “I anticipate a lot of those are going to be that way for the rest of the season.”

According to Murken, there are many good teams in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, which both Minot State and MSU-Moorhead compete in.

“If you look at the power rankings in detail, a whole bunch of the top 50 teams are from the NSIC, which is a really highly rated league,” said Murken. “We’ve got a fun basketball team, so come out and support us. We’ve got a team that compete with anybody in the country when we’re playing the way we did.”

MSU-Moorhead remains a perfect 12-0 (6-0 NSIC) on the year with the win, while Minot State drops to 8-3 (4-2 NSIC).

Minot State will return to action on Saturday, Dec. 30, when they host the University of Minnesota-Crookston, at 3 p.m. in the MSU Dome. Historically, the Beavers hold a 33-5 edge in the series, including a sixteen-game winning streak between 2008-2020. The most recent win was on Nov. 21, 2023, when Minot State prevailed 79-67.