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Morris, Minn. – The Minnesota Morris men's basketball team played their most complete game of the season tonight (Feb. 5), cruising to a 78-59 win over visiting Bethany Lutheran.
In their final game on Jim Gremmels Cout, the Cougars' two seniors led way, as Eric Dalbey (Mora, Minn.) scored a team high 17 points, and Daniel Fragodt (Benson, Minn.) pulled down a game high nine rebounds.
Back-to-back fast break lay-ups to close out the first half had the fans on their feet, Coach Grove up cheering on his team, and started a momentum swing that the Cougars carried into the second half. Coming out of the break with a 47-33 lead, the Morris offense continued to cruise, and they never looked back.
They went up 20 at the 11:39 mark, and never led by less than 12 in the half. A nice assist from Fragodt to Zach Meyer (Cottonwood, Minn.) under the basket gave the Cougars a 73-51 lead at the 5:13 mark, giving the Cougars their biggest lead of the game.
Assists were plentiful tonight, as the Cougars finished with 21 in the game, just the third time this season they've topped the 20-mark. Ten different players had a helper, with nine charting more than one.
Tom Barrett (Red Lake, Minn.) finished with three on the evening, but none more impressive than his dish to Brendon Foss (Hancock, Minn.) in the paint, while Barrett was flying through defenders in the lane. The bucket gave the Cougars a 20-point advantage for the third time at 69-49 with 6:12 left to play. Barrett also added 11 points on the night.
With his own flair for the spectacular, Foss had a huge first half swat that stopped a Viking threat and preserved a five-point Cougar lead.
In the first Cougars were paced by Dalbey, who scored all 17 of his points in the period. Plagued by slow starts in recent weeks, the Cougars got out in front early tonight, leading 28-18 at the 9:16 mark on a Barrett three-pointer.
They would also go up by 13 late in the first half, taking a 38-25 lead with 3:57 to go when Dalbey made the last of his four first half threes. The Vikings would cut the lead to eight, but the Cougars countered with an 8-to-0 run to close the half, capped by those two fast-break steal-and-scores in the final 30 seconds to take a 14-point lead into the break.
Winners of six straight, the Cougars close the home season with seven straight wins on Jim Gremmels Court, but now must hit the road for the season's final four games. Next weekend they will travel to Twin Cities for a pair of games, including a Feb. 12 match-up with league leader Northwestern. Just a game ahead of the Cougars in the league standings, the 9-1 (UMAC) Eagles only loss came at the hands of the Cougars earlier this season.
But first, Morris must take on Crown in St. Bonifacious on Feb. 11.Then after wrapping up the regular season on Feb. 18 & 19, the UMAC Tournament starts on Feb. 23. The top-four seeds qualify, with the top-two earning first round home games.
