Mavericks return home to break losing skid

The Minnesota State men’s basketball team traveled to N.D. this past weekend to take on Minot State and UMary with the hopes of returning home on a four-game win streak. The Mavericks came home empty handed however, losing both games.

The Mavs first traveled to Minot State’s home court where the Beavers blew out MSU 69-97. Minnesota State’s top scorer and sophomore guard Quincy Anderson struggled to sink baskets, going 3-10 from the field. 

Freshman Tyrell Stuttley stepped up for the team coming off the bench, but his 18 points and four rebounds were not able to help the Mavs keep up with the Beavers. Minot State could barely miss, shooting 60.3 percent from the field while having five double-digit scorers. 

Senior guard Max Cody led the way for the Beavers with 18 points but teammates Camron Dunfee and Melvin Newbern followed closely behind with 17 and 15 points of their own. 

Minnesota State then got a swing at the UMary Marauders who handed MSU their second loss of the weekend 60-65. The Mavs switched up their starting lineup for the game, having common starters like Anderson, and juniors Kelby Kramer and Devonte Thedford come off the bench.

Sophomore Shawn Hopkins took advantage of the opportunity, turning 31 minutes into 17 points and nine rebounds for MSU. Freshman Harrison Braudis also did well, scoring 13 points in 29 minutes.

The Mavericks as a whole did not shoot well as a team in this one, only hitting 36 percent of their shots from the field. The Marauders took advantage of that while shooting 44 percent to upset the Mavs. 

Sophomore guard Matthew Johnson led UMary in scoring from off the bench, totaling 14 points and six rebounds in 31 minutes of action. 

With the losses, the Mavericks fall to 10-6 overall and 4-6 in the NSIC with two home games against MSU Moorhead and Northern State coming up this weekend. The Mavs are now in the bottom half of the NSIC standings but have a chance to jump Moorhead with two wins this weekend.

Up first are the Dragons, who are 10-9 overall and 5-5 in conference play. Moorhead is supported by a balanced scoring attack with three scorers averaging double-digit numbers. 

Minnesota State then move onto the Northern State Wolves who are 13-9 overall with a conference record of 7-7. The Wolves most recently had their three-game win streak snapped by Winona State, but during the run they took down top three NSIC opponent Upper Iowa. 

Northern State relies on yet another balanced offensive attack, with four players averaging double-digit point numbers. Junior guard Sam Masten leads that group, averaging 15.7 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. 

Despite only starting in his first game against UMary this past weekend, Hopkins should look to expand his role in the offense outside of his current average of 6.2 points per game. Anderson remains the leader in scoring for the Mavs, averaging 16.9 points per game.

Header Photo: The Mavericks now look to the weekend in hopes of snapping their losing streak against either MSU Moorhead or Northern State.