Mavs split season-opening Series against Bemidji State

Daniel McElroy ® Staff Writer |
Photos by Mansoor Ahmad ® Photo Editor |

The Mavericks men’s basketball team (1-1-0) split their first series of the season against the Bemidji State University Beavers (1-1-0) this past weekend.

The Mavericks dropped the first game of the season with a score of 74-59, but bounced back on Sunday with a 91-67 win. 

Saturday’s game started with an early lead from the Mavericks after a pair of layups, but the Beavers answered quickly, keeping it a tight game through the first five minutes, with a score of 11-10.

The Mavericks pulled ahead with another set of layups and a jumper in the paint to give them a 17-12 lead.

The back and forth scoring would continue, exchanging 2-point leads until the end of the half, when the Beavers went on a 9-0 run to the end half with a 41-35 lead.

Bemidji State continued their run at the start of the second half with a 15-5 run in the first five minutes, giving the Beavers a 56-40 lead.

Minnesota State would attempt to cut the lead with a pair of jumpers from sophomore Quincy Anderson and junior Kelby Kramer.

The Mavericks kept trying to keep pace with the Beavers but fell short in the end with a final score of 74-59.

Anderson led the Mavericks going 7-15 in field goals and 16 points.

Sunday’s meeting had the Mavericks wanting revenge for the previous match, scoring a whopping 91 points.

The Beavers started out the game with a 4-0 lead after two layups from Cody Landwehr, but wouldn’t hold the lead for long after that. The Mavericks kept it a one possession game for most of the first ten minutes, until they took a 17-16 lead and didn’t let go of it after that. 

The Mavericks took control of the game, going on a 21-7 run, leading to a score of 46-28 at the end of the half.

The Mavericks held at least a 20 point lead for the final 16 minutes of the game, earning their first win of the season at home. 

Malik Willingham and Devonte Thedford led the Mavericks through the second half of the game putting up 19 points and 14 points, respectively. 

Quincy Anderson led the team in scoring in Sunday’s meeting again, putting up 24 points, totaling 40 points across the weekend series. Anderson also earned his second career double-double with 11 rebounds.

The Mavericks next meeting is set for this Friday and Saturday against Augustana University at the Taylor Center.