NEW ULM, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris men's basketball team will get to carry some momentum into the UMAC Tournament after fending off Martin Luther College by a score of 99-95 in double overtime on Monday night. The Cougars roared back from an eight-point halftime deficit and Tath Dak scored 10 of his career-high 24 points in the two extra sessions – including eight points in the second overtime alone. The win puts UMN Morris at 4-5 on the season.

Minnesota Morris led by as many as seven points in the first 20 minutes, but solid long-distance shooting from Martin Luther helped the Knights recover and overtake the Cougars early on. Pal Dak's layup at the 13:20 mark of the opening half put UMN Morris ahead, 21-14, but the Knights tied it with a 7-0 run after that and eventually would lead by nine thanks to seven three-pointers in the first half. A last-second jumper from Jonathan Riebe made it 46-38 at the intermission.

Back-to-back threes from Dillon Haider and Corbyn Alexander to start the second half put Martin Luther on notice and the Cougars were finally able to pull level on a Tath Dak jumper, 56-56, with 12:41 left in regulation. From that point on, no team led by more than four points the rest of the half. Minnesota Morris made a big defensive stop in the final seconds to force the game to overtime tied at 76-76.

In the first overtime, Tath Dak connected on a pair of free throws with 2:47 left that made it 81-78 in favor of UMN Morris. Martin Luther would rally, scoring five points in a row to take a two-point lead until a Haider jumper just inside of a minute knotted the score again at 83-83. The teams traded turnovers from there and Joey Behm missed what would have been a game-winning shot for the Knights, so another five minutes would be needed.

The combined scoring of Tath Dak, Will McBee, and Haider carried Minnesota Morris through the second overtime. Tath Dak started the scoring with a pair at the stripe and it would be his jumper to make it 89-88 with just under three minutes to go that would give the Cougars the lead for good. A three-point play from Dak late in the shot clock and with about 30 seconds remaining would be the dagger to put the Knights away. That made it 96-91 and free throws from Haider and Dak in the closing seconds salted the game away for Minnesota Morris.

Besides the 24 from Tath Dak, three other Cougars hit double figures on the night. Haider ended with 20, Jaret Johnson had 15 and McBee ended with 13. Kenneth Riley handed out seven assists while playing 42 minutes on the night.

Minnesota Morris will head to the UMAC Tournament with the No. 6 seed and travel to the Twin Cities to take on North Central University on Thursday night. Tip-off between the Cougars and Rams is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.