MANKATO, Minn. – Senior Mavericks Justin Eagins and Kyreese Willingham posted career days as Minnesota State (17-10, 13-6 NSIC) took down Minot State (21-7, 12-7 NSIC) in a tight 96-91 victory at home. Eagins led all players with a career-best 37 points, six assists and three steals. Willingham also tallied a career-high 35 points to go along with four rebounds, two steals and three blocked shots.
 
The Mavericks made 58.3% of their shot attempts in the win and had seven makes from beyond the arc.
 
Eagins kicked off the game with a step-back three as the shot clock wound down. He stole the ball, then Willingham made a floater in the lane to put the Mavericks up 5-0 before Minot State got on the board with a shot inside. Willingham made a nice rebound on defense before finding Eagins for a nice basket on the block to go back up by five. Eagins intercepted a pass on defense and pulled up for three in transition which put Minnesota State up 10-4. Following a score from the Beavers, Eagins directed Willingham to cut inside then fed him a bounce pass for an easy bucket at the rim. Those two connected the next time down the court, too, but Minot State responded to both makes to keep it a four-point game heading into the first media timeout.
 
Drew Daniel found Will Opsahl in the corner for a three out of the break, then David Harmon stole the ball and finished the play with a layup to force a timeout call from the Beaver bench. Harmon made his second bucket of the game, a step-back pull-up, the next time down and then Willingham scored on a nice pick play from Daniel to put the Mavericks up 23-10 with 11:58 left in the half. Eagins hit his third three-pointer of the game after a give-and-take with Daniel. Following another Maverick stop, Eagins nailed yet another step-back three to put Minnesota State up 16 on a 15-3 run in the previous three and a half minutes.
 
Out of the second media timeout, the Beavers jumped out on a 7-2 run before Willingham responded with a three on the wing. He threw down a monster jam on a back-cut feed from Malcolm Jones. The Beavers had consecutive three-point makes following the slam, then Jones bodied a defender inside which opened up the lane for an easy finish to maintain a 12-point lead.
 
After another break, Harmon hit a tough floater off the glass. Then on defense, Eagins blocked a shot, Opsahl threw it up to Harmon who found Willingham cutting wide open down the lane for a fast break dunk to put the home team up 42-28 with 3:36 left in the first. Gunville hit his third three-pointer to make it a 10-point game and the Beavers cut it to single digits with a fastbreak layup after a turnover. Eagins responded with a tough and-one layup after a strong move to the rack but Caleb Van De Griend's fourth bucket of the game kept it a nine-point game. The first half ended with the score at 48-39.
 
Minnesota State shot 58.8% from the field in the first half with six three-point makes at a 54.5% clip shooting from downtown. The team outrebounded the Beavers by one, but the Mavericks forced seven Minot State turnovers in the first and had six steals that turned into 14 points on the other end.
 
Willingham and Eagins both ended the first half with 17 points. Eagins had three assists, two steals and a block while shooting 6-9 from the field and 4-5 from deep. Willingham made one three but shot 8-12 from the floor. He also had two steals and three blocks in the first half. Harmon scored seven points off the bench in the first half.
 
Minot State shot and efficient 53.1% from the field in the first 20 minutes and outscored MSU in the paint 24-18. Gunville led the team with 11 points and Van De Griend had eight points and five rebounds in the first half.
 
The Beavers opened up the second half with a three but Caden Kirkman got on the board with a hook shot from the post after he was in foul trouble early. Willingham made a layup to extend the Maverick lead to double digits, then Eagins fed Kirkman for another make inside. Jalen Cook hit his second three of the half to make it a seven-point game but Eagins extended the lead with a layup. Van De Griend reached double figures on an and-one layup to make it a six-point game with 15:21 in regulation.
 
Van De Griend made another and-one layup off a steal to cut the Beaver deficit to four. On the other end, Opsahl avoided a defender in the lane for an acrobatic finish inside, then Eagins found Kirkman for another layup inside to get his fifth assist of the evening. The Beavers had the chance to cut it to a one-possession game but an errant pass gave Minnesota State the ball which allowed Eagins to hit a pull-up two from the top of the key to make it a six-point game. Willingham grabbed a rebound and took it all the way to the rim for a layup to make it a 65-57 game with 11:08 left on the clock.
 
Van De Griend muscled in a layup for the Beavers, then, out of a media timeout, Eagins hit another pull-up jumper off a screen to put the Mavericks back up by eight. Cook finished a wild layup where he was fouled and put in the free throw to make it a five-point Minnesota State lead. Eagins grabbed a long offensive rebound and pulled up from where he stood for a deep three. Gunville kicked off an 8-2 run which made it a two-point game for the Beavers with a pair of threes.
 
Eagins stole the ball away on defense and threw the ball up to Willingham who threw it down with force. He made a pair of free throws at the charity stripe, grabbed a tough rebound on defense and then set a screen that allowed Daniel to get an easy look at the rim to put MSU up by eight with 4:25 left in regulation. Willingham put the Mavericks up by double digits with a signature one-legged floater from the baseline, but Van De Griend made an and-one layup to cut back into the lead. Minnesota State called a timeout with 3:03 left on the clock.
 
After a pair of Willingham makes at the charity stripe, Van De Griend threw down a dunk to get to 23 points in the game. The Beaver post grabbed a tipped three for an offensive board and put it up for a layup to cut the Maverick lead to seven with 2:11 left to play. Willingham made a couple more free throws then Eagins hit a tough shot with a hand in his face to reach 31 on the night. Van De Griend had another make inside then Cook hit a three-pointer off an offensive rebound following a free throw miss which cut it to a three-point game with 0:45 left in regulation. A pair of free throws from Eagins put the team up by five, but Ayouba Berthe hit a couple of shots to keep it a two-point game with 21 seconds left. After two more free throw shots gave Eagins 37, a new career-high, the Mavericks would force a turnover which would seal the win, 96-91.
 
MSU shot 58.3% from the field (35-60 FG), 7-18 from beyond the arc (38.9% 3P) and an outstanding 19-21 from the free throw line (90.5% FT). The team was outrebounded by two and had five fewer assists than the Beavers, but defensively the Mavericks won the battle, forcing 15 Minot State turnovers with eight steals, blocked eight shots and scored 24 points from takeaways.
 
Eagins and Willingham combined for 72 total points on 24-38 shooting. Eagins scored 37 points with four rebounds, six assists, three steals and a block. Willingham had 35 points, four boards, two steals and three blocked shots. The two Maverick seniors led the way offensively for the team in the win.
 
Minot State shot 53.1% from the floor (34-64 FG), 44% from three (11-25 3P) and made 12-15 from the charity stripe (80% FT). The team had five players reach double figures in its seventh loss of the year. Van De Griend led the way with 28 points and 14 rebounds to go along with three steals and a block. He shot 11-14 from the field. Both Cook and Gunville ended the game with 17 points each. Berthe ended the game with 14 points and Sam West scored 10 points before fouling out.
 
Minnesota State plays its last home game of the 2024-25 regular season tomorrow, February 15 at 3:30 p.m. in the Taylor Center. The team hosts UMary (5-23, 3-16 NSIC) on Senior Day, where six Mavericks will be honored prior to tip-off. MSU dominated the Marauders on the road back in early January with a 90-49 win in Bismarck.