MAYVILLE, ND – Defense was the story for Head Coach Darren Tighe's team against Waldorf on Friday night. Forcing tough shots and holding the Warriors to ten points in the first 15 minutes of play, and only 43 points for the entire game, allowed the Comets to get their second North Star win and move to 12-2 overall on the season after a 67-43 win over Waldorf. 

"Fantastic defensive effort tonight," said Coach Tighe. "The guys did a fantastic job of knowing and executing the scout and then just playing their hearts out for 40 minutes."

Both teams scored early buckets to open the game, but the Comets were able to slowly build a lead by playing shut-down defense and establishing their advantage in the paint early against the Warriors. Eight points from Rene Melendez and six points out of Max Cooper in the first ten minutes of the game helped push the Comet lead to 15-4.

Two made free throws from Latrelle Franklin and a Jalen Valverde bucket later triggered a 10-0 run that helped build a 17-point lead for the Comets at the 9-minute mark of the half. Rene Melendez and Simon Ramirez also added their share of buckets through that stretch to keep building the Mayville State lead heading into half. 

At that point, it looked as if Mayville State would run away with the contest, but Waldorf's Demetrius Martin responded with a surge of offense in the last four minutes, scoring eight of the Warriors' final ten points of the half, cutting the MSU lead down to 34-22. 

The Comets were able to rebuild their lead with seven straight points right out of the gate to start the second half. Plus, the defensive pressure continued after the break with MSU only allowing six points to Waldorf in the first twelve minutes.

Five straight points from Dominic Schuster put the Comets ahead 60-30 with 5:23 to play in the game, from there Waldorf found some energy on the offensive end, but it was too little too late as they were only able to cut the lead down to 22 at any given point in the final minutes.

Simon Ramirez led the Comets in scoring with 13 points on the night, Latrelle Franklin and Rene Melendez both added twelve apiece, and Max Cooper put in eleven points and grabbed six rebounds.

Waldorf was led in scoring by Demetrius Martin with 15 points, followed by Quincy Minor Jr. with ten points, and Melvin Martin with seven. 

The Comets will be back in the Lewy Lee Fieldhouse tomorrow evening when they take on the Viterbo V-Hawks for another North Star matchup, tipoff is scheduled for 5 p.m.