Wednesday…

Dickinson State  75  VCSU 66

DICKINSON, N.D.  (VCSU)  – The Valley City State men’s basketball team had its season come to an end Wednesday during the quarterfinals of the North Star Athletic Association Postseason Tournament.

The No. 5-seeded Vikings fell behind by nine points at halftime and were never able to fully recover in a 75-66 loss at No. 4 seed Dickinson State.

Valley City State ends the season with a 9-19 overall record. Dickinson State extends its winning streak to seven games, improving to 14-12 on the season. The Blue Hawks advance to the NSAA semifinals where they will face Bellevue University, Saturday at 6 p.m. in Watertown, S.D.

Leading 27-24 in the first half, Dickinson State scored eight straight points – including back-to-back 3-pointers by Donte Walker – to extend its lead to 35-24. The Blue Hawks then took a 39-30 lead into the locker room.

The Vikings trimmed the second-half deficit to five points at one point, closing to within 51-46 after Michael Cornelious scored five straight points with 11:40 remaining. The Blue Hawks responded with five straight points of their own, and VCSU would get no closer than seven points the rest of the way.

Valley City State made just three 3-pointers in the game, going 3-for-17 from deep. The Vikings shot 42 percent overall (28-67) and were 7-for-8 on free throws. Dickinson State finished the game at 48 percent overall (29-60), 33 percent on 3’s (6-18) and 61 percent at the line (11-18).

Cornelious finished with 16 points and nine rebounds for VCSU. Connor Entzi scored 14 points, and Logan Nelson added 10 points. Jake Skelly finished with six points and seven assists. Freshman Logan Miller scored a career-high nine points off the bench, and Hunter Sand added seven points for the Vikings.

VCSU finished with 10 assists and 12 turnovers, while Dickinson State had 13 assists and 10 turnovers.

Melvin Collins scored a game-high 19 points to pace the Blue Hawks, while Walker added 17 points and four assists.