MORRIS, Minn. - The University of Minnesota Morris hosted the Mayville State University Comets in a non-conference matchup. The Cougars came away from the loss with a 1-5 record overall on the season.
Minnesota Morris opened the scoring on the night as Carvin Fish knocked down two shots at the charity stripe and hit a layup in the paint for an early 4-0 lead. Mayville was quick to respond to the Cougars, finding a 12-6 lead five minutes into the half. A clutch triple from Thomas Tiernan put Minnesota Morris up one, followed by a steal with a fast break layup from James "Juice" Hughes to give the Cougars a 15-12 lead. Minnesota Morris held on to their three point lead as Gustav Gunderson, Jase Nelson, and Ian Fahje all knocked down shots to respond to the Comets. After battling back and forth for points, Mayville sparked a 16-7 run in the last five minutes of the half to take a 47-38 lead going into halftime.
Ready to battle back into the lead, the Cougars went on a 13-1 in the first five minutes of the second half to take a 51-48 lead. Minnesota Morris maintained their lead, but Mayville matched the Cougars bucket for bucket until the score was tied at 59-59 with less than ten minutes in the half. The Comets found the lead again, going on a 12-4 run with five minutes left in the half. Layups from Jase Nelson, Fish, and Pal Dak brought Minnesota Morris back to a six point deficit with 1:36 remaining. Nelson knocked down a pair of free throws to make the score 73-77. Unable to find the bottom of the net in the last thirty seconds of the matchup, the Cougars fell with a final score of 73-78.
The Cougars had five players in double figures at the conclusion of the game. Fish led Minnesota Morris in scoring with twelve points and pulled in six rebounds. Dom Aguilar scored eleven on the day and earned five assists for the Cougars. Dak, Nelson, and Fahje each had ten points to round out the double digit scoring. Dak and Fahje also ended the day with six and five rebounds respectively.
The Cougars will stay at home this weekend, taking on Oak Hills Christian College in a 1 pm matchup on Dec. 7.
