– Vikings Men Fall To Minot St., Tues. BB

Tuesday

VCSU Men’s Basketball

At Valley City

Minot State 98 VCSU 93

(VCSU) The Valley City State University men’s basketball team opened the 2021-22 season Tuesday night by hosting NCAA Division II school Minot State University for an exhibition contest.

The Vikings rallied to within five points in the final minutes after facing a 18-point second-half deficit, but VCSU could not complete the comeback as Minot State held on for a 98-93 victory.

Jalen Addison led the Vikings with 25 points Tuesday, including 20 points in the final five minutes to help fuel VCSU’s late challenge.

The game was an exhibition contest for both teams and does not count on their season records. The Vikings play their first countable game this weekend as they hit the road for early-season challenges at Northwestern College on Friday and Dordt University on Saturday.

Valley City State and Minot State went shot-for-shot in an entertaining first half as the Beavers opened up a slim 47-40 lead at the break. Minot started the second half with a 14-4 run to open up a 61-44 lead with 15:44 remaining. Back-to-back 3’s by Jaxon Gunville gave the Beavers their largest lead of the game at 71-53 with 9:50 to go.

The Vikings responded with an 8-0 run, book-ended by 3’s from Cayden Rickard and Tate Hebrink, to cut the deficit to 71-61. Fueled by Addison’s hot hand, the Vikings eventually trimmed the deficit to 85-80 with 2:42 remaining, but could get no closer the rest of the way.

Four Vikings scored in double figures, led by Addison’s 25 points. Kevin Schramm had 16 points and eight rebounds. Chris Thompson scored 15 points and Joshua Kelly added 10 points and three assists.

The Vikings forced Minot State into 22 turnovers while turning it over just 12 times. The Beavers shot 56 percent overall (35-63) and 41 percent on 3’s. Valley City State shot 43 percent overall (29-67) and 39 percent on 3’s (12-31).

Up next: Valley City State takes a road trip to Iowa for two games this weekend. The Vikings play at Northwestern College on Friday at 7:45 p.m., and then play at Dordt University on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.