Trojans Secure Sixth Seed With Road Loss to VCSU

Valley City State poured in 50 points in the first twenty minutes, rolling to a 93-74 NSAA men’s basketball victory over Dakota State. The victory also earned the NSAA season series split between the Vikings and the Trojans.

In the opening minutes, both teams traded three leads and were tied twice, but with VCSU holding a slim 11-10 lead, they went off to score 11 straight points. From there, the Vikings continued to add to their lead, taking a 50-32 lead into halftime.

The Vikings held a double-digit lead for the rest of the game as both teams started to empty the bench midway through the second half.

The Trojans bench did go on an 11-2 run in the final minutes, but were outscored 43-42 in the second half as they lost by nearly twenty points with a final score of 93-74.

Sam Muller paced the Trojans with a game-high 22 points on his 10-of-15 field goals.  He also grabbed six rebounds. Ethan Slaathaug scored a career-high 14 points off the bench. Josh Holloway netted 12 points, going 4-7 from the three point line.

Deshawn Kelly tallied seven points, five rebounds, three assists, and three steals for DSU. Brett Limke added six points and three assists. Taylor Edwards had four rebounds. 

Daevonte Munson led the Vikings with 20 points on his 8-of-14 field goals. He pulled down a game-high eight rebounds. He contributed three assists. Duoth Gach added 18 points. 

Dakota State shot 43.8 percent overall from the field (28-of-64 field goals) compared to Valley City State 49.3 percent (36-of-73 field goals). The Vikings drained 11 3-pointers in 36 tries, while the Trojans hit 8-of-23 3-pointers.

Valley City State outrebounded Dakota State 43-37, and outscored the Trojans 22-11 in points off turnovers, 58-37 inside the paint, and 28-10 in second chance points.

Dakota State fell to 11-16 overall record and 5-8 NSAA conference record. The Trojans had wrapped up the No. 6 seed for the upcoming conference postseason tournament, which is set to start with the opening round on Tuesday, Feb. 21 with an opponent to be announced after the regular-season finale on Thursday.  

Valley City State earned their fifth win in the last six NSAA contests, improving to 15-12 overall record and 8-5 NSAA conference record.  The Vikings are tied for third in the conference standings with Dickinson State, where both teams will play each other in the regular-season finale Thursday in Dickinson, ND.

Dakota State closes out their home schedule on Thursday evening at DSU Fieldhouse, hosting Bellevue. Tip-off is slated for 7:30 p.m. in head coach Gary Garner’s final home contest at DSU, and the game can be heard on FM 103.1 or online at AmazingMadison.com.