Box Score
MAYVILLE, ND – The Mayville State Comets had one more game to wrap up their weekend home stretch against the visiting Dickinson State Blue Hawks on Saturday evening. DSU was coming off a win over Jamestown and the Comets were coming off a loss to Valley City State, with MSU a game and a half behind the Blue Hawks this made it a big one for both sides.
The Blue Hawks got off to good start, taking a 6-0 lead before
Gorg Alhag hit a 3 to break the ice for the Comets. Alhag and
Daniel Lindgren turned into a powerful duo to help keep the Comets in it in the early going with them adding ten each in the first half to help pace the Comets and counteract the efforts of DSU's Ryan Clark, who also had ten points to start the half out. DSU had the slim lead at the half, 31-30. Things were tight between both teams with ten lead changes throughout the first half.
It was a different story in the second half. The Comets went ahead 36-35 early before they went on a nice offensive stretch with a 16-6 run.
Cameron Epps had a flurry of points in that stretch, including a 4-point play off a fall-away 3, netting eleven of those 16 points in the MSU run.
DSU came back with a 5-0 run of their own before the Comets came alive again with key defensive stops and more balanced scoring. A 9-0 run helped lift the lead to 15 for the Comets, forcing the Blue Hawks to call a timeout with 8:26 to play. The Comets were able to manage the clock well, building the lead to as much as 18 and pulling away in the end with the win, 71-58.
Balanced scoring was a key to victory for the Comets. They were led by
Cameron Epps with 16,
Gorg Alhag with 15, while
Daniel Lindgren and
Creighton Pfau had 14 each. Pfau led in rebounds with seven, followed by
Eric Staebler with six.
For the Blue Hawks, Marcus White led with 15, followed by Ryan Clark with twelve. Each team shot 54 times from the floor, the Comets getting 24 in the bucket, while the Blue Hawks sank 20. The Comets had the edge in 3-pointers by going 7-22, and limiting DSU to just 2-13.
Next up for the #22 Comets (14-5, 7-3 NSAA) will be next Saturday, January 27th against Presentation College at Aberdeen, SD at 5:00 pm in another NSAA matchup.
