Megan Topping/MDN MSU junior Sam West (4) attacks with the basketball against Minnesota-Crookston at the MSU Dome on Tuesday, November 26, in NSIC action.

The Minot State University (MSU) men’s basketball team shot 50 percent from beyond the arc on the way to a dominant 83-52 win against the Minnesota-Crookston Golden Eagles at home on Tuesday, November 26, with the Beavers Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) opener.

The Beavers (7-0, 1-0) had four players score in double figures, led by Sam West, who had 21 points, six rebounds, six assists and three steals. Jalen Cook added 20 points and Ayouba Berthe helped out with 12 points.

Offensively, MSU was impressive from deep as they poured in ten threes on 20 attempts. Cook hit four treys for the Beavers in the contest.

Not only was the shooting performance stout, but the MSU defense also came to play. They caused a share of mistakes in Tuesday’s game, forcing 13 Minnesota-Crookston turnovers. Those takeaways turned into 16 points on the offensive end of the floor. West’s three steals led the way individually for the Beavers.

The Beavers kicked off the conference portion of the season with a bang. West and the Beavers were pleased following the outcome at the Dome.

“It feels really good getting the first conference win…just feels good to defend our home court today,” said West. “It took a team effort to do that offensively, I think we moved the ball pretty well. We got their defense in tough situations and we all just made the right play today.”

After jumping out to a 31-23 advantage, MSU went on an 8-0 run with 4:31 left in the first half, culminating in a three from Jaxon Gunville to increase the lead to 39-23.

The Beavers then lost some of that lead, but still entered halftime with a 44-31 advantage. MSU relied on its three-point shooting in the half, knocking down 9 shots to account for 27 of its 44 points.

Following halftime, MSU kept widening that lead, expanding it to 66-46 before going on a 6-0 run to grow the lead to 72-46 with 4:49 to go in the contest.

The Beavers kept expanding the margin and coasted the rest of the way for the 83-52 win. MSU took care of business in the paint, recording 24 of its 39 points in the lane.

MSU heads on the road for some additional non-conference duels looking to add to their hot stretch to begin the season.