MINOT -- It may have been the last time the Dickinson State and Minot State men's basketball teams met as conference foes, but to DSU head coach Ty Orton, it was simply a much-needed Dakota Athletic Conference win.
Dickinson jumped out to an early lead, and the Beavers were never able to put together a response as DSU won 86-65 on Wednesday at the MSU Dome.
"We didn't come out and say we wanted to beat Minot," Orton said. "We wanted to come out, it's a conference game. We're in position where we have to win some games. That's how we focused on it."
DSU had lost two of its last three in the DAC.
The Blue Hawks (15-11, 8-4 DAC) sizzled from the floor in the first half, shooting 67 percent from the floor and 6 of 8 from 3-point range.
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That early success was spearheaded by the play of senior Nathan Lebsock.
Lebsock shot 6 of 7 from the floor and scored 17 of his game-high 26 points in the first half as the Blue Hawks built a 35-15 lead with 7 minutes, 30 seconds left before halftime.
"Nate is one of the best players in the conference and an all-around person," Orton said. "I think the kids were ready just like (Minot State head coach) Pete (Stewart)'s kids were ready. They were all ready to play, the ball just happened to go in for us. We had some good shots and moved the ball around really well. The guys hit shots. It wasn't just Nate, I think some of the bench guys stepped up and hit some shots."
Stewart said his team needs to put together a full 40 minutes to win key conference games.
"There's one group of people in the world that deserve to wear big belt buckles and that's bull riders," Stewart said. "We have to learn to ride the bull and man up. We didn't. We're running out of opportunities. We've still got two conference games, a (conference) tournament and a national tournament we can still get to. We're fully capable of it, but until we can ride a bull for the full eight seconds, we're not going to. We got beat by a better basketball team tonight. We got outplayed and outcoached. That was the result."
Minot State cut DSU's lead down to 44-31 by halftime and came out with a run of its own in the second half.
Beavers post Kelvin Fraser got a dunk, was fouled and converted the free throw just two minutes into the second half to make it 46-38.
The Beavers (11-15, 5-7 DAC) had DSU's lead down to eight points again at 52-44 with 14:09 to play.
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Stewart was whistled for a pair of technical fouls about a minute later and ejected for arguing a foul called on Beavers forward Shawn Storseth, who was attempting a box out following a DSU missed shot.
The ensuing free throws pushed DSU's lead up to double digits and the Beavers never got any closer.
"The guys seemed like they had the good answer at times," Orton said. "I think it came up to our bench too. I really like how we answered. The Minot boys came out hard and cut it to eight."
While Lebsock was the most explosive player in the opening half, it was sophomore Matt Lee who dominated much of the second half for the Blue Hawks.
Lee scored 16 of his 22 points in the second half.
"Runs are fine, they're like little moral victories, but in the end you have you to play for 40 minutes," Stewart said. "We just don't. We missed assignments all night long."
DSU finished 56 percent from the floor while Minot State shot 45 percent and just 19 percent from 3-point range, going 3 of 16.
"Our defense was strong," Orton said. "We were communicating and blocking out and going and rebounding. I think we were only gave up 3 or 4 offensive rebounds. The guys stayed focused well."
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Orton said the game was typical of the rivalry.
"You know it's there," Orton said. "Whenever Minot comes to our gym, it's packed. It was a tremendous crowd here tonight and everyone was into the game."
Stewart expects the teams to see each other in the future, just not as conference foes.
"It's the last in the DAC, but I don't think the rivalry will go away," Stewart said. "Coach Orton is an outstanding young coach and I don't think he wants that. For a number of reasons I don't think he wants to walk away from the game and I certainly don't. It means too much to North Dakota people. We'll make it work, I know as coaches we'll try to make it work."
DICKINSON STATE (15-11, 8-4 DAC): Matt Lee 8-12 6-8 22, Dano Fagerlund 1-2 3-3 5, Nate Lebsock 6-11 11-12 26, Tevin Hurd 5-9 0-0 11, John Hanstad 2-5 0-2 6, Zach Edward 0-0 0-0 0, Jeff Hurd 0-0 0-0 0-0, Isiah Thomas 0-0 0-0 0, Brock Boos 0-1 0-0 0, Robbie Morey 0-0 0-0 0, Derek Pauley 1-2 7-10 9, JarekHansen 1-2 0-0 3, Daniel Casey 0-0 0-0 0, Carl Dynneson 1-1 0-0 2, Destry Sterkel 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 25-45 29-37 86.
MINOT STATE (11-15, 5-7 DAC): Kelvin Fraser 6-7 2-3 14, Nathaniel Packineau 1-9 1-2 3, Bojan Janjic 3-5 1-3 7, Jason West 4-10 5-5 13, Jonas Pollard 1-4 4-6 6, Anthony Enriquez 4-10 3-4 13, Cam Malzer 1-2 0-0 3, Shawn Storseth 2-2 2-2 6, Gary Heitkamp 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 22-49 18-25 65.
Halftime: DSU 44-31. Total fouls: DSU 24, MSU 27. Technical fouls: Minot Coach 2nd 13:09, Minot Coach 2nd 13:11, West 2nd 9:09. Fouled out: Packineau, Janjic, West. 3-point goals: DSU 7-12 (Lebsock 3-4, Hanstad 2-4, Hurd 1-2, Hansen 1-1, Boos 0-1), MSU 3-16 (Enriquez 2-5, Malzer 1-2, Packineau 0-5, Janjic 0-2, West 0-2). Rebounds: DSU 24 (three with 4), MSU 27 (Pollard 6). Assists: DSU 10 (Lebsock 2, T. Hurd 2), MSU 18 (West 6). Steals: DSU 14 (Lebsock 7), MSU 15 (West 5). Blocks: DSU 1 (T. Hurd 1), MSU 2 (Fraser 1, Janjic 1). Turnovers: DSU 18 (Lee 7), MSU 20 (West 7).
