MORRIS, Minn. - Amidst a sea of white shirts and a celebration for head coach Paul Grove in conjunction with Coaches versus Cancer, the University of Minnesota Morris men's basketball dominated in a conference matchup against Northland College. The Cougars move to a 5-3 record in UMAC competition and sit tied for second in the conference.

After a back-and-forth battle in the first ten minutes of the matchup the Cougars, up 15-11, showed off their scoring ability with points from all over the floor. Jase Nelson gave the Cougars a seven point lead with a bucket from the perimeter, which LeRoy Staples-Fairbanks followed with a three of his own. Four athletes from Minnesota Morris had tough finishes around the rim in the final minutes that gave the home team a 31-24 lead heading into halftime. 

Pal Dak came out of the halftime break ready to go, dropping the first four points of the half for the Cougars after scoring just two in the first half. He splashed a triple at the 15 minute mark to give Minnesota Morris the first double-digit lead of the game. From there, it was the Cougars' game as Dak dropped 19 points in the half and Minnesota Morris outscored the Lumberjacks 43-34. Northland fought to close the gap, but still trailed 58-74 at the final buzzer.

Dak came close to a double-double on the day, dropping 21 points and pulling in nine defensive rebounds. Staples-Fairbanks came off the bench to score 13 for the Cougars while Carvin Fish earned a double-double with 12 points and 14 rebounds (8 def.) to show his dominance in the paint. 

The Cougars will head on the road next week for games at Crown College (Feb. 5 at 5:30 pm) and the University of Northwestern (Feb. 8 at 1 pm).