Box Score CROOKSTON, Minn.- The University of Minnesota, Crookston was out-scored 21-2 in the last seven minutes of the first half and the first five minutes of the second half as they fell at the hands of Minnesota State University, Moorhead 71-48 Saturday night. The Golden Eagles were ahead 19-18 with just over five minutes remaining in the first half before they went cold. UMC has had late first half struggles and has struggled to score in the second half many times this season. The Golden Eagles fall to 3-15 (0-14 NSIC) while the Dragons improve to 15-5 (9-5 NSIC). UMC has been within striking distance of their opponents in the first half of the last four games as they either held a lead or were within five points.
 
The Golden Eagles were led from James Sparkman (R-Jr., F, Ypsilanti, Mich.) with 14 points on 6-of-16 shooting. The performance marks the second-straight double-figure performance for Sparkman who put in 11 points against Northern State University Friday. Sparkman came into Saturday averaging 7.1 points per game. Brandon Burns (Jr., F, Baton Rouge, La.) added 11 points for the Golden Eagles while Tim Lubke (So., G, St. Paul) added nine points on 3-for-4 shooting from beyond the arc.
 
UMC finished the game shooting 16-of-55 for 29.1 percent from the field. They were 8-of-21 for 38.1 percent in the first half. The Golden Eagles shot 7-of-21 from trey for 33.3 percent including going 5-of-12 in the second period. UMC struggled from the charity stripe on the game connecting on only 9-of-16 attempts for 56.3 percent.
 
UMC was controlled on the boards as MSU Moorhead out-rebounded the Golden Eagles 48-29 led by 11 rebounds from Ben Figini. UMC was led on the boards by Abdou Niang (Sr., F, Dakar, Senegal), who finished with seven rebounds.
 
The Golden Eagles shut down the conference's leading scorer Anthony Tucker for the first 32 minutes of Saturday's contest as Tucker would not score until the 8:18 mark of the second half. He would finish the game with nine points. Tucker, a transfer from Winona State University and University of Iowa, came into Saturday averaging 20.7 points per game.
 
Alex Novak led the Dragons on the night with 14 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field while Jordan Riewer also had 14 points. Evan Holt would come off the bench for 10. MSU Moorhead shot 22-of-53 for 41.5 percent for the game and were 5-of-19 for 26.3 percent from beyond the arc.
 
In a similar tale to many recent first half's for UMC, the Golden Eagles played toe-to-toe for the majority of the period with MSU Moorhead. UMC and MSUM were tied three times early on until the Dragons were able to get out to a 14-9 advantage with 9:38 remaining in the first half. However, the Golden Eagles would come back taking the lead 16-15 following a Sparkman jumper with 7:09 remaining in the period. UMC was able to extend their lead to 19-15 following a Burns trifecta with 6:37 left in the half.  
UMC would go cold from that point on as MSU Moorhead would finish the last 6:37 of the half on a 14-2 run to go into the locker room with a 29-21 lead over the Golden Eagles. Justin Rake (Sr., G, Petal, Miss.) had the only make for UMC during the run.
 
UMC's scoreless streak would continue into the second half as they would be out-scored 7-0 in the first five minutes of the period before the streak was snapped with a three-pointer from Burns to cut the deficit to 36-24 with 15:13 remaining in the second half. The Golden Eagles would cut the MSUM lead to 11 with 13:09 left after a Burns free throw but 11 would be as close as the team would get as MSU Moorhead would win by 23 (71-48).
 
The Golden Eagles will look to snap their NSIC losing streak as they remain at home next weekend with games against University of Sioux Falls Friday and Southwest Minnesota State University Saturday.
 
 
For more information, visit the Golden Eagle Athletics Web site at www.goldeneaglesports.com.

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The University of Minnesota, Crookston is an NCAA Division II Institution and a member of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC). The Golden Eagle Equestrian team is a member of the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA).
                                       
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