ELLENDALE, N.D. – Minnesota Morris (1-1) pulled away for an 82-64 win over Trinity Bible (1-5) on Tuesday night. The Morris bench outscored the Lions bench by an amazing 41-0 margin. Senior Joe Roggenbuck led all bench scorers with 14 points; he also added ten rebounds to earn a double-double.
 
CD Douglas had a team high 15 points on 7-13 shooting. Dylan Erickson had 14 points while Noah Grove and Tyler Ukkelburg each had 11 points. Morris shot nearly 50% in the game while holding the Lions to just 27.8%.
 
Morris found themselves down 9-7 early in the game but a 16-1 run gave the Cougars a 23-10 lead six minutes into the contest. Five of the Cougars seven made three pointers in the first half came in the opening six minutes of play. Even more astounding was that five different Cougars made a three during that stretch.
 
Douglas converted a shot with less than ten minutes to play in the half to thrust the Cougars to a 19 point lead. Trinity closed the gap to ten on a couple occasions, before getting as close as eight just prior to the halftime break. UMM outscored the Cougars 9-2 in second chance points in the first half.
 
Trinity continued their comeback in the second half, getting within a single possession at 45-42. Morris would dig their heels into the ground and kept the Lions from getting any closer.  An 11-4 run gave the Cougars a double digit lead with 13:46 left in the game.
 
A basket by Grove with 11:34 left gave the Cougars an 11 point lead and Trinity never got closer than that the rest of the way. Morris used their size in the second half to outscore the Lions 22-14 in the paint in the second half.
 
Morris had 11 players score at least two points on Tuesday night. The Cougars finished the game 9-16 from behind the arc, including 7-10 in the first half.
 
Next Tuesday the Cougars will travel to Aberdeen to take on Presentation at 7:30 p.m.