MORRIS, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Morris men's basketball team saw its lead disappear late in the second half in a 77-65 loss to Presentation College on Sunday afternoon. The defeat sends the Cougars to 4-4 on the season.

The first half turned into the Blake Munson Show, with the freshman guard scoring 20 of his 22 in the opening 20 minutes. Munson's first of six triples in the first half gave Minnesota Morris a 6-5 lead and treys on three straight possessions midway through the half extended the advantage to 26-15. Presentation would come back to lead in the closing minutes of the first half and a layup just before the halftime horn cut the Cougar halftime lead to one, 37-36.

Both offenses started slowly in the second half and Minnesota Morris went more than five minutes without scoring before a Kenny Placide layup tied the score at 39-39. Jarrett Kujava and Jaret Johnson followed with three-pointers to put the Cougars up by six and a three-pointer from Jacob Brooks would later make it 54-45 with just over nine minutes to go. 

Presentation answered its largest deficit of the second half by going on a 19-2 run over the next three-and-a-half minutes. Munson scored with over five minutes left to cut the Saints lead back to six, but another 7-0 run from the visitors followed to increase the lead to 13. By that time, less than three minutes remained and Presentation never saw its lead dip back into single digits again.

Munson finished with a game-high 22 points, making 6-of-8 from beyond the arc. Ian Carlin added 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the floor. Johnson grabbed a game-high nine rebounds.

Minnesota Morris opens up UMAC play on Dec. 9, heading to the Twin Cities to meet North Central University in Minneapolis at 5:30 p.m.