Minnesota Duluth won its third NSIC Tournament title, its first since 2003, with a 76-65 over St. Cloud State. UMD earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament with the win, while SCSU will await its fate on Sunday night’s NCAA Selection Show.
The match had begun with the Huskies getting on the board first at 2-0. The Bulldogs responded quickly as Kole Hanson (6'2''-G) and Caleb Siwek (6'3''-G) kept pace with SCSU with a layup each to hold a 4-4 score with 17:50 to go. This was the last time the Huskies were tied up with the Bulldogs as Hanson followed for his first three-pointer of the day to give the determining lead.
From then on, Siwek lit up the scoreboard with 19 points to close the half, including a 5-6 effort from the three-point line.
Jackson Fowlkes (6'4''-G) (7), Hanson (4), Mattie Thompson (6'8''-F) (2), Noah Paulson (6'9''-F) (2), and Daniel Molhoek (6'9''-F) (2) combined with Siwek's effort to hold a 43-32 lead into halftime. The second half saw the dominance continue as Siwek added another 13 points, which included him going 2-3 beyond the arc, keeping the Huskies' defense off balance. Hanson also kept SCSU guessing, putting up 2-3 three pointers of his own.
Paulson (6), Molhoek (2), Fowlkes (2), and Nick Katona (6'7''-G) (1) combined with Siwek and Hanson to keep the Huskies well out of reach on a 33-33 scoring effort to seal the match at 76-65.
Overall, UMD held SCSU to 39.3% (24-61) from the field, a team that had reached 46% (29-63) earlier this season to deal the Bulldogs a 92-87 loss. In a career game for Siwek, he made the team's most three pointers of the season with a 75% (6-8) accuracy. Siwek earned the NSIC Tournament Most Valuable Player award while Hanson and Paulson took home All Tournament team awards.

Final:
Minnesota Duluth - St. Cloud State 76-65

Semis:
Minnesota Duluth - Augustana 72-62
St.Cloud State - Minnesota State 87-82

Courtesy of northernsun.org