Men’s basketball to take on Dragons and Wolves
Andrew Neururer
Sports Editor
The Minnesota State men’s basketball team will be on the road to take on the MSU Moorhead Dragons and the Northern State Wolves this weekend.
Minnesota State enters play with a 11-9 record and a conference record of 9-5. This comes after splitting their home series on Jan. 24 and 25, this last weekend.
The first game will be against the Dragons, who have an overall record of 12-8 and a conference record of 8-6. MSU Moorhead has a home record of 7-4 as well, which might be troublesome, as the Mavericks are just 4-5 on the road.
MSU has had the advantage all-time against Moorhead, with a record of 22-10 and have won their previous five meetings. The last time these two teams met, MSU squeaked out an 88-87 win on Feb. 1, 2019.
However, MSU is 10-1 when playing at home, but they’re only 3-3 when it comes to road games against the Dragons.
Two players to watch out for on the Dragons side are Gavin Baumgartner and Bryce Irsfeld. Baumgartner is the team’s leading scorer with 16.3 points per game and is averaging 5.2 rebounds on top of that.
Irsfeld is averaging 12.9 points and is the team’s second leading scorer.
As for Northern State, they should prove to be a harder match up, as the Wolves are 15-5 this season and have an 11-3 conference record. They are also holding a 7-2 record when playing at home.
Northern State lost their last game to Minnesota Duluth on Jan. 25, but before that, they were riding a six-game winning streak.
MSU has lost their previous four games against the Wolves as well, with their last game being on Feb. 2, 2019, with the Mavericks losing 88-80.
Minnesota State does hold the upper hand all-time, holding a record of 15-11.
Northern State is being led by Parker Fox, a player who is averaging 21.6 points per game and 9.2 rebounds per game. Another player who has helped the Wolves, has been Mason Stark, who’s averaging 15.1 points and shooting 56.9% from the 3-point line.
On the Mavericks side of things, they are being led by senior Cameron Kirksey, who’s averaging 17.7 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. Behind him is freshman Ryland Holt, who’s averaging the second-most points with 14 per game.
The Mavericks will be playing MSU Moorhead and Northern State this Friday and Saturday on the road.
Header photo: Minnesota State forward Julian Napravnik (15) controls the puck against Bemidji State at the Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center Saturday, Jan. 25, 2020 in Mankato, Minn. (Kjerstin Hall/MSU Reporter)