February 25, 2020

NSAA MEN'S BASKETBALL POSTSEASON TOURNAMENT HEADQUARTER

MAYVILLE, N.D. – The seventh-seeded Dakota State (S.D.) Trojans started their postseason play in the quarterfinals round of the North Star Athletic Association Men's Basketball conference tournament Tuesday evening. The Trojans visited the second-seeded Mayville State (N.D.) Comets and suffered a defeat by the score of 74-59 at Lewy Lee Fieldhouse.

Dakota State finished their 2019-20 season after falling to the Comets, dropping their overall record to 8-23.

Mayville State heads to Watertown, S.D. to compete in the North Star Athletic Association's semifinals.  The Comets take on No. 3 seed Viterbo (Wis.) on Saturday evening at 8 p.m., with the winners moving the championship Sunday at 4 p.m. against the 6 p.m. semifinal winner between No. 5 seed Waldorf (Iowa) and No. 1 seed Bellevue (Neb.).

(24) Mayville State (N.D.) 74, Dakota State (S.D.) 59 – FINAL

• Both teams battled back-and-forth in the first ten minutes of the game, with two ties and two lead changes.  Neither team was able to establish control, with the lead no bigger than five points.
• Trailing 5-2, Gavin Schipper drained a 3-pointer to knot the game at 5-5 with 17:45 on the clock.  Anthony Costello then hit back-to-back baskets as part of DSU's 7-0 scoring run to earn a 9-5 lead with 15:57 to go in the first.
• Josh McGreal hit a basket with 13:02 left in the first half to put Dakota State up 15-10. 
• Mayville State answered with a 10-0 outburst, thanks to five different scorers (Rene Melendez, Iker Cruz, Jalen Valverde, Tobyn Lawson and Max Cooper) in the scoring run to overtake a 20-15 lead with 10:09 left.
• DSU could get no closer than four points at 20-16 after a free-throw by Costello. 
• The Comets outscored the Trojans 24-8 in the final 9:38 of the first half as their lead grew to 44-24 by halftime. 
• Mayville State shot a blazing 52.9 percent in the first twenty minutes of the game (18-of-34 field goals).  Dakota State was held to 39.3 percent from the field (11-of-28 field goals).
• The Comets led as many as 21 points at 56-35 after a basket by Latrelle Franklin with 14:12 remaining in the game.
• DSU attempted to make a comeback after using an 18-9 scoring run to cut MSU's lead to 64-53 after a 3-pointer by Gare Ewefada.  The Trojans could get no closer than 11 points after the Comets answered with a 7-0 run to balloon their lead to 71-53 with 2:26 left.
• The Trojans outscored the Comets 35-30 in the second half.  DSU was 14-of-31 from the field (45.2 percent) compared to MSU 40.7 percent (11-of-27 field goals).
• Dakota State was led by McGreal, who racked up 18 total points on his 8-of-18 field goal shooting and made both free-throws.  Costello added 16 points (7-of-15 field goals) and pulled down eight rebounds.
• Mayville State was led by Cooper who ended with 21 points (8-of-12 field goals), followed by Franklin with 14 points.  Melendez added 12 points
• DSU was 25-for-59 field goals overall (42.3 percent) in the game compared to MSU 29-for-61 (47.5 percent) in the game. 
• Both the Trojans and the Comets ended with 14 assists and five steals.  Gavin Schipper achieved four assists for Dakota State, while Franklin led Mayville State with seven assists.  Ewefada stole the ball three times for DSU.  Franklin recorded four steals for MSU.
• Dakota State committed eight turnovers to the Comets, who committed seven turnovers.
• Cruz led the Comets in rebounds, totaling 14 rebounds (10 defense rebounds) in the game. MSU outrebounded DSU 43-27.  Schipper carried the Trojans with eight rebounds.
• Mayville State was 4-for-13 (30.8 percent) in three-point shots, compared to Dakota State being 5-for-12 (41.7 percent). 
• Sawyer Koch, McGreal and Schipper each tallied one block for the Trojans.
• Mayville State converted 12-of-20 free-throws (60 percent) compared to Dakota State 4-of-8 free-throws (50 percent).

Madelyn Shockey, DSU Sports Writer