MANKATO, Minn. – Minnesota State men's basketball coach Matt Margenthaler won his 500th career game on Friday night, as the Mavericks (12-7, 8-3 NSIC) took down MSU Moorhead (10-7, 5-6 NSIC) in a nail-biter, 90-88. Justin Eagins had the best scoring output of his career, as the southpaw ended with 34 points on 7-12 shooting from three and seven assists.
With the win, Margenthaler becomes the 18th active coach in NCAA Division II to collect 500 wins and the 50th active coach – all division – to reach the milestone!
Harrison Braudis put the first points on the board with a floater. After some back and forth, Carson Johnson made a three to put MSU Moorhead up 7-4. On the other end, Justin Eagins found a rolling Drew Daniel for an easy layup. He made a hook shot in the paint to make it a one-point game with 14:41 in the first half. Eagins sunk a three to tie the game at 13-13, but Logan Kinsey for the Dragons made one in retaliation. He made another jumper and a three to tie the game again at 18-18. MSUM took a five-point lead with a three-pointer, but Eagins pulled up from the logo to make it a 25-23 game. Kyreese Willingham stuffed a monster dunk over MSU Moorhead's Jacob Jennissen and was fouled for a three-point play to give Minnesota State a one-point lead with 7:35 left in the half.
Eagins hit his fourth three of the game to put the Mavericks up by four. After Braudis made a two-point jumper, Eagins hit another three to put MSU up 36-29. Braudis made a three of his own, but the Dragons tied it after a 6-0 run. Daniel made a layup in the paint off an Eagins assist to swing the advantage back to the Mavericks, but the Dragons' Shaun Wysocki made a shot of his own to give MSUM a 44-43 lead headed into halftime.
Both teams made over 50% from the field in the first half. The Mavericks shot 51.6% from the field and sunk six three-pointers over the course of the first 20 minutes of action. The team outrebounded the Dragons by two but had four fewer assists than MSU Moorhead.
Eagins had a phenomenal first half, scoring 19 points on 7-10 shooting and a 5-7 barrage from deep. He also had three assists in the first. Braudis had 11 first-half points, three rebounds and an assist. Willingham had seven points and four rebounds.
MSUM shot 57.6% from the field and made three shots from beyond the arc. The team ended with 11 first-half assists. Wysocki led the Dragons with 12 points in the first. Kinsey ended the half with nine points scored.
The Dragons got on the board first in the second half, but Braudis made a nice move in the post for an easy look inside. Johnson made back-to-back jumpers for MSUM, one for two and the other to give the away team a 53-45 lead, which forced a timeout from the Maverick bench. Kinsey stole an MSU pass and took it the distance to put the Dragons up by 12 with 16:27 left in regulation. Eagins made a free throw to end an 11-0 run for MSU Moorhead, Daniel was fouled on a jumper in the post and made the free throw to make it an eight-point game. Willingham made an and-one layup off an assist from Eagins after a pair of MSUM layups to put the score at 61-52, but Johnson was fouled on the other end on a made layup. He made the free throw to give the Dragons a 12-points lead with 14:30 left in the second half.
After Will Opsahl made his first shot of the game, Kinsey made another and-one layup for the Dragons to put themselves up 67-54 on the home team. Chase Bartlett dunked the basketball in transition after a steal from Daniel to swing some momentum back in the Mavericks' favor. Eagins made his first three of the half to cut the deficit back to single digits. Braudis' floater in the paint continued the MSU run. He grabbed a steal on defense and Caden Kirkman made his first bucket in the game after getting in foul trouble early to cap off an 8-0 run from Minnesota State which made it a four-point game.
After JaMir Price made an and-one layup on the defensive end, Eagins made his seventh three of the game to bring the score to 70-66 with less than 10 minutes remaining. A pair of free throws made by Braudis brought it to a one-score game, but the Dragons made a good look from three. Kirkman drove into a wide-open lane to keep it a one-possession game. Eagins found Kirkman for a slam dunk after a nice make from Price on the other end. Opsahl sunk a huge three-pointer that had the crowd on their feet to give Minnesota State a 76-75 lead, the team's first since 1:29 in the first half.
Braudis hit two free throws to extend the Maverick lead to three. The Dragons took the lead back after a layup from Johnson and free throws from Jeinnissen. After a timeout, Braudis grabbed an offensive board and found Kirkman wide open under the net for an easy layup. MSUM's Sam Hastreiter made a three-pointer, but Eagins tied the game back up with a hook shot jumper in the lane and Kirkman made two free throws to make it an 84-82 game with 1:09 in regulation. Eagins made a driving floater to give him 30 points for the first time in his career and to put Minnesota State up 86-73 with 0:37 left in regulation. Price made a layup to make it a one-point game, then Eagins got fouled bringing the ball up the court and made both shots at the line. He made two more and that sealed the game. Minnesota State won 90-88.
The Mavericks ended up shooting 51.7% from the field (31-60 FG), making 9-24 from beyond the arc (37.5% 3P) and 19-23 from the free throw line (82.6% FT) in the win. The team outrebounded the Dragons 34-28 and dished out 13 assists. Minnesota State was effective in turning takeaways to points, scoring 13 off turnovers.
Eagins ended with 34 points, seven assists and four rebounds in the game. The Downers Grove, Ill. native shot 11-20 from the field and 7-12 from beyond the three-point arc. Braudis scored 19 points on 6-10 shooting, grabbed seven rebounds and had two steals and a block in the win. Kirkman ended with 11 points and two blocks. Willingham had 10 points, seven boards and two steals.
MSU Moorhead shot an outstanding 59% from the field in the loss, including 7-17 from three-point range. Johnson and Price both scored 18 points in the loss. Price also ended with eight assists for the Dragons.
The Mavericks close out their homestand tomorrow afternoon against St. Cloud State (10-8, 6-4 NSIC). Minnesota State will play the Huskies at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, January 18 in the Taylor Center.
