Box Score

Morris, Minn. - The University of Minnesota, Morris defeated Valley City State University 87-76 tonight (Dec. 17) to end a six game losing streak.

The majority of the Cougars scored points tonight. The Cougars had nine players score at least one and had at least four Cougars in double figures.

Steve Birman (Duluth, Minn.) continued his dominance on the basketball court with 22 points. With his 22 tonight, he has had at least 18 points in seven of nine games this season. He is leading the team with 169 total points and his averaging 18.8 points per game.

Daniel Fragodt (Benson, Minn.) also saw a majority of the scoring tonight, as he had 13 points, which is his second highest scoring game this season. He also scored 15 points at Mayville State on Nov. 30. Fragodt led the team with five assists and five rebounds to go with his 13 points. Also, helping out was Derek Schmidt (East Grand Forks, Minn.) who had 12 points and Zach Meyer (Cottonwood, Minn.) with 11.

Tonight's game was very close and physical. The teams combined for 41 fouls (VCSU had 25, UMM had 16). The game was close all night long, the Cougars biggest lead of the first half came with 5:04 left when Austin Pinke scored to put UMM up three going into halftime.

The Cougars then took off in the second half. With 17:41 left, the Vikings Mark Klingberg tied the game up with a lay-up, but after the Cougars would not look back. UMM never trailed in the second half, and the 8:41 mark, Birman hit a three-pointer to give the Cougars a nine-point lead. After a lay-up by Schmidt with 4:09 remaining, the Cougars lead would not be less than 10 for the rest of the night.

The game was tied only three times and saw only two lead changes. The Cougars capitalized on the Vikings miscues by scoring 17 points off turnovers. They out-rebounded the Vikings 26-to-23 which led to 16 second-chance points. The Cougars bench also played a big role by scoring 27 points on the night.

With finals being done and winter break upon us, the Cougars will get a break from action. They will be off for a couple weeks with their next game being a rematch against Valley City State. The Cougars will kick off 2011 on January 4 in Valley City, N.D. at 7:00 p.m.

Remember you can always watch the game from home on Cougar Sports Network.