Box Score The Mayville State University men's basketball team hosted the #18th ranked team in the nation Briar Cliff University tonight in the Lewy Lee Fieldhouse. Briar Cliff University is part of the Great Plain Athletic Conference and entered this weekend's matchup with a win over Waldorf College by a score of 94-78.

The Comets came out of the gates strong hitting shots and playing strong defense. Despite missing a few early layups, MSU took an early lead at 10-7 and held that lead for much of the first half.  Both teams battled back and forth and were able to force tough shots and turnovers. Limited scoring and defense dominated the first half, but the comets headed into the locker room with a 36-30 advantage.


MSU came out of halftime sluggish and allowed the Chargers to storm back and take an early lead in the second half behind their All American Point Guard Erich Erdman.  But the Comets answered with a run of their own to take back the lead at 49-47 with 14:00 to play.  The Chargers answered the Comets run with back to back triples and after a missed open 3 and a turnover by the Comets, Erdman pushed the lead to 10.  The Comets battled to the end but weren't able to trim the lead to lower than 6 and Briar Cliff finished the game with an 89-76 victory.

Erdman lead the Chargers with 29 points, 21 of them in the second half.  The longball carried the Chargers in the second half as the team sank 16 triples and shot 44.4 percent from long range. BC also shot 46.3 percent from the field and 78.6 percent from the free throw line. Comparatively, the Comets shot 44.4 percent from the field, 42.1 percent from beyond the arc (both season highs) and 75.0 percent from the stripe.

Daniel Lindgren led the Comets with 20 points, Taylor Delaughter added five points and 14 boards on the night. Michael Slaba added ten points for the Comets, as well.

MSU continues action next Saturday down at the University of South Dakota for an exhibition game, tip-off is set for 6:00 PM.