Mankato, Minn. --- Third-ranked Minnesota State got a pair of goals from junior winger Jared Spooner in cruising to a 7-2 win over #15 Northern Michigan in a Western Collegiate Hockey Association contest played in the Key City Friday night.

In addition to Spooner's multiple-goal game, the Mavericks, who won for the tenth time in the last 12 games, also got multi-point games from Connor Mackey (goal, assist), defenseman Edwin Hookenson (two assists), forward Parker Tuomie (two assists), forward Charlie Gerard (goal, assist), forward Julian Napravnik (two assists), forward Reggie Lutz (goal, assist) and forward Walker Duehr (two assists).

Senior winger Reggie Lutz got things going when he cashed in after taking a pass from Charlie Gerard at 2:01 of the first period.  Griffin Loughran, the nation's leading goal scorer, made it 1-1 with a shot from the right circle high on the short side at 18:16, but junior center Jared Spooner, coming down the left side of the rink, wristed a shot that beat Nolan Kent on the glove side and the Mavericks entered the locker room at the end of the opening period owning a 2-1 lead.

Senior captain Nick Rivera put Minnesota State up 3-1 when he found the back of the net with a wrist shot from 30 feet out on the glove side at 12:24 of the second with the Mavericks shorthanded. NMU's Garrett Klee finished off an odd man-rush at 13:57 to pull the Wildcats in one of the Mavericks, but Gerard connected on a shot from right boards at 14:22 and the goal, Gerard's 12^th of the season gave the Mavericks a 4-2 lead.

Dallas Gerads tallied to put the Mavericks up 5-2 with his sixth goal of the year coming on a shot along the ice that squeezed between John Hawthorne's pads at 4:21 of the third period. A shot from the point by Philip Beaulieu bounced off a skate into the net into the net at 8:11 to make it 5-3 and that was as close as the Wildcats would get with the Mavericks closing out the game with a pair of tallies. Junior defenseman Connor Mackey jumped up into the play, took a pass from Julian Napravnik and wired a shot that beat Hawthorne stick side at 14:16 and Spooner's backhand goal at 18:02, which came on the power play, closed out scoring in the contest.

Minnesota State sophomore netminder Dryden McKay, who finished with 21 saves, upped his record on the season to 24-3-2 with the victory.

The Mavericks, now 25-4-1 overall and 19-3-0 WCHA, close out the two-game league series with the Wildcats (16-9-4, 14-6-1 WCHA) Saturday with a 6:07 p.m. face-off scheduled.

-  30    -