MAYVILLE, ND – The 24^th ranked Mayville State University men's basketball team used 44 first half points to cruise to an 81-61 win in Friday's conference regular season finale at the Lewy Lee Fieldhouse. The win even-further solidified a lock on the second-place spot in the post-season North Star Athletic Association conference tournament.
Presentation College jumped out to the lead early, but then the Comets got hot. After being down 4-3, Mayville State went on a 6-0 run to jump out to a 9-4 lead, paced by back-to-back three pointers by Rene Melendez, one of two seniors recognized Friday night on Senior Night at the Lewy Lee Fieldhouse.
With just over seven minutes gone in the first half, the Comets opened up a double-digit lead, paced by the play of Tobyn Lawson, Jalen Valverde, Max Cooper and Latrelle Franklin. Cooper was the other senior recognized.
"I'm happy for the seniors to go out with a big win," Comets head coach Darren Tighe said. "And now is the time we have been working for all year, it should be a great game on Tuesday."
A Dominic Schuster three-pointer with 7:48 to go in the first half extended the lead to 14 points, a lead the Comets never relinquished down the stretch. Iker Cruz widened the lead back to 14 at the buzzer to end the first half.
Franklin nailed a three-pointer just over 90 seconds into the second half, widening the lead to 17 points to start out the second half. Jackson Becker cut it to 13 points for Presentation College, and Ange-Michael Kuo cut the lead to 11, before Franklin nailed a three-pointer to make it a 14-point contest. Alex Sumption made it a 12-point game, but back-to-back buckets by Schuster, including a critical three-pointer, pushed the Comet lead back to 17 points with 13:20 to go in the second half.
Cooper and Valverde hit back-to-back buckets, extending the lead to 20 points, followed by Valverde's free-throw, making it a 21-point lead for the Comets with 10:21 to go in the game.
Coleman cut the lead to 15-points, but that's as close as the matchup came.
Four Comets finished in double-figures—Franklin led with 17 points, Cooper added 15, and Melendez and Lawson each had 14. Lawson had a double-double, adding 16 rebounds to go with his 14 points.
The Comets wrapped up the regular season with a record of 21-5 overall, and 11-3 in the North Star Athletic Association.
The Comets will host Dakota State University on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Lewy Lee Fieldhouse.
The conference tournament will move to the Watertown Civic Arena on Saturday and Sunday in Watertown, S.D.