ABERDEEN, SD. – Following a loss in their previous night's matchup, the Winona State Warriors (10-12, 7-11) traveled to take on the second place team in the NSIC North, the Northern State University Wolves (18-6, 14-4). Riley Bambenek's 25 points were not enough as the Wolves hot night shooting sent the Warriors home with an 85-58 loss.
 
Mack Arvidson wasted little time to get Northern State on the scoreboard as his shot from beyond the arc found the bottom of the net in the contests first possession. Arvidson tried to connect again from three but was unable to as Tommy Gathje collected the rebound and Connor Flack put in a layup on the other end putting the Warriors on the board. Riley Bambenek knocked down both shots from the charity stripe to give Winona State a slim one-point advantage. Five straight Wolves points put them back on top before they would go on a 10-0 run moments later giving Northern State an 11-point lead with nine minutes remaining in the first.
 
Isaiah Gray ended the three-minute scoring drought with a layup before Bambenek added a triple to bring the Warriors within six. The Wolves refused to give up their advantage as they countered with a 9-0 run, spanning two and a half minutes. Bambenek ended the Northern State run with a layup before Bo Fries connected from deep, sparking a brief 7-0 stretch. Both sides traded baskets, scoring five points aside in the final three minutes as the Wolves went into the half with a 47-27 lead.
 
Northern State shot an incredible 66.7 percent from three while WSU shot a respectable 40 percent themselves. Three-pointers were not the only shots falling for the Wolves as they out shot the Warriors 62.1-42.3 percent from the field. Winona State also struggled to gain the advantage in rebounds being outrebounded 18-9 and led in bench scoring at 21-6. Bambenek was a bright spot for the Warriors scoring 17 of the teams 27 points; he was followed by Gray, who had four.
 
Flack tipped off scoring a minute and a half into the second half and was followed with another layup by Gathje as the Warriors scored four straight. Ian Smith countered for the Wolves as he knocked down two shots from beyond the arc.
 
A few minutes later Bambenek continued his hot night knocking down two threes of his own cutting the deficit 17. Mason Domask ended a three-minute scoreless streak and Gathje followed with a three shortly after, as the game reached the ten-minute mark with the Northern State up by 21. The Warriors couldn't make up ground and the Wolves picked up the 85-58 home victory.
 
Quick Hitters:
Northern State continued their hot shooting throughout the game finishing with a 52.6 field goal percentage including 52.2 percent from beyond the arc.
Winona State had a nice night, shooting 40.4 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from three.
The Wolves had a heavy advantage on the glass, out-rebounding WSU 40-21 while also having an edge in assists 16-9.
Northern State got a huge contribution from their bench, outscoring WSU 44-11.
Bambenek led all scorers with 25 points, while Gathje and Gray followed with seven.
The Warriors are back home next weekend playing Concordia-St. Paul on Friday at 8 p.m. and Minnesota State University Saturday at 6 p.m.
 
By: Jake Thiede