BEMIDJI -- The Bemidji State men鈥檚 basketball team couldn鈥檛 quite conjure up some late-game magic to knock off U-Mary on Friday night, losing its sixth game in a row on a 76-70 setback at the BSU Gymnasium.
The Beavers are now 1-6 overall and are winless in five conference games -- their first 0-5 start to the conference schedule since 1996-97.
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Bemidji State scored the first eight points of the night and had an 11-2 advantage on a Nick Wagner 3-pointer after just six minutes. But the Marauders (3-4, 3-2 NSIC North) narrowed the gap until flipping the score in their favor at 24-23.
A 32-29 halftime lead for U-Mary reached eight at 39-31 early in the second half, but BSU didn鈥檛 let it get further out of hand for long. The Beavers crept back into it, quickly coming back within a basket, yet BSU never got over the hump to tie the game.
A 46-44 game with 13 minutes remaining never got any closer than that. The Beavers had the deficit within one possession six times in the second half, but U-Mary never surrendered the lead. Wagner missed a game-tying 3-point attempt with 1:04 remaining, and the Marauders scored the next six points to put things out of reach in the closing moments.
Bemidji State got 18 points out of Wagner, as well as 17 each from Griffin Chase and Derek Thompson. But U-Mary had just a hair more from its scoring department, led by 15 apiece from Trever Kaiser and Matthew Kreklow.
The Beavers will try to break free of the losing streak when it hosts U-Mary again at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 23, at the BSU Gymnasium.
U-Mary 76, Bemidji State 70
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U-M 32 44 -- 76
BSU 29 41 -- 70
U-MARY (3-4, 3-2 NSIC) -- Kaiser 15, Kreklow 15, Sipes 9, Amundson 8, Carr 8, Jordan 7, Mayer 7, Johnson 5, Warrens 2, Mattern 0. Totals: 26-61 FGs, 14-16 FTs, 76.
BEMIDJI STATE (1-6, 0-5 NSIC) -- Wagner 18, Chase 17, Thompson 17, Behrendt 7, Landwehr 6, Olson 3, Kone 2, Albrecht 0, Senske 0. Totals: 27-61 FGs, 4-5 FTs, 70.
