Bemidji St. men's basketball team opens playoffs at home
BEMIDJI – Fresh off its weekend victories over Minnesota-Duluth and St. Cloud, the Bemidji State University men’s basketball team earned the third seed in the NSIC North Division and will host Wayne State 7 p.m. Wednesday in the opening round of the league playoffs.
Wayne is ranked sixth in the South Division.
If the Beavers defeat Wayne they will probably head to Winona for Saturday’s quarterfinals. Winona is the second seed from the South Division and hosts U-Mary (No. 7 in the North) in Wednesday’s opening round.
A BSU victory and a Winona loss, however, would result in a home game against U-Mary on Saturday.
The NSIC tournament scene shifts to Taylor Arena in Rochester for the semifinals on March 8 and the championship game on March 9.
BSU capped its regular season in style as it defeated UMD 79-64 on Friday and tripped St. Cloud 75-71 on Saturday.
Mason Walters sparked the Beavers to their weekend victories as the senior reached the 1,000-point plateau with 12 points Saturday against St. Cloud.
Walters is the 17th Beaver to score 1,000 points. Earlier this winter teammate Lance Rongstad joined the club.
Walters also grabbed 15 rebounds against the Huskies and now is ninth in the program’s history with 468 rebounds.
St. Cloud won the North Division with a 15-7 NSIC record while Northern ended 14-8, BSU 13-9 and Moorhead 12-10. Trailing the leaders were Minot at 9-13, UMD at 6-16, U-Mary at 3-19 and Crookston at 1-21.
Minnesota State captured the South Division title with an 18-4 record. Winona finished 17-5, Augustana 15-7, Upper Iowa 14-8, SMSU 13-9, Wayne 11-11, Sioux Falls 8-14 and Concordia-SP 7-15.
Women’s tournament
The BSU women’s team dropped both weekend games, losing 85-56 to UMD and 73-48 to St. Cloud, and finished seventh in the North Division standings with a 7-15 record.
The Beavers drew Minnesota State (18-4 in the NSIC), the No. 2 seed in the South Division, for Wednesday’s NSIC tournament opener and that game will be played 6 p.m. Wednesday in Mankato.
If Bemidji State could pull off the upset it would travel either to Moorhead or Sioux Falls for Saturday’s quarterfinals.
St. Cloud (14-8 in the NSIC) won the North Division title and Concordia (19-3 NSIC) claimed the South Division crown.