The bad news for the Dickinson State men's basketball team Wednesday night at Scott Gymnasium was plentiful.
In front of their home crowd for the first time all season, the Blue Hawks were easily dispatched by NCAA Division II opponent Minot State, 88-68. Entering the second half down eight, the Blue Hawks were then outplayed soundly by the Beavers, who at one point were up 25 in the second half. DSU totaled 16 turnovers and, especially in the last 20 minutes, consistently looked a step behind the Beavers.
"First home game jitters," said guard Jerry Shevlin, who finished with nine points on 4 of 12 shooting. "They just outplayed us. It came down to who wanted it more. We didn't give our best effort."
The good news for the Blue Hawks, and perhaps the most important news, is that the game was only an exhibition, and won't count toward their overall record, which stands at 1-0 after a victory over Yellowstone Christian on Oct. 16.
Before the season began, head coach Justin Wetzel said his team needed a little bit more time to jell. After watching his team's "lethargic" offense against Minot State, he reinforced his point.
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"It is an exhibition, we understand that. We have 12 new guys. It's going to be a learning process," Wetzel said. "We have to force ourselves to take something from this. Getting embarrassed on your home floor like that, a tough and focused team will respond to that."
The Blue Hawks' two leading scorers were Ryan Clark and Marcus White, who both finished with 14; no other player reached double digits.
The game-high scorer was Minot State's Tyler Rudolph, who in the first half shot only 2 of 8 for seven points but then hit nine of his second-half shots for an efficient 26 points to go along with 10 rebounds.
His offense led the Beavers' second-half charge that ended up being the difference in the game.
"We had a few stretches in the first half of good basketball on both ends, then we'd go away from what we were doing well. We'd take quick shots or didn't move the ball well," said Minot State coach Matt Murken. "You have to be tough enough to keep moving the ball and keep playing defense. In the second half we did that for a lot longer stretches. It led to easier shots and led to a little bit of a run there."
Facing their largest deficit of the game, the Blue Hawks, led by White, made a mini-run late in the game to get the game within 16 points with about four minutes left. Besides that burst of energy, though, the offense for the DSU was never fully on the same page.
"The main ingredient we were missing was effort. We just need to play harder and give a consistent effort. That's one of our main problems right now," Shevlin said. "Now we just have to accept it. They outplayed us. We have to turn around and go to Denver Friday. Can't dwell on our downs."
Minot State 88, Dickinson State 68
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Minot State: Tyler Rudolph 26, Nathaniel Moore 15, Luis Ricci Maia 14, Brandon Green 8.
Dickinson State (1-0): Marcus White 14, Ryan Clark 14, Jerry Shevlin 9, Konner Goettsche 7, Terrell Butler 7, Gilberto Shojgreen Jr. 6.
Total fouls: MSU 18, DSU 25. Fouled out: DSU, Konner Goettsche. 3-point goals: MSU 7-18 (Ricci Maia 1-2, Davis 2-5, Rudolph 2-5, Moore 1-1, Green 1-2, Cody 0-1, Rothstein 0-2), DSU 9-23 (Shevlin 1-6, Goettsche 2-5, Buck 0-1, D. Clark 0-2, R. Clark 0-1, Gallo 0-1, Butler 2-3, Brown 1-1, White 3-3). Rebounds: MSU 35 (Rudolph 10), DSU 36 (R. Clark 11). Assists: MSU 11 (Moore 6), DSU 14 (White 3, Buck 3). Steals: MSU 4 (Russ Davis), DSU 3 (Jake Buck 3). Blocks: MSU 0, DSU 1 (Brandon Jamar 1). Turnovers: MSU 10, DSU 16.
