M State fell behind 32-23 at halftime and lost a road contest to Northland Community College in Thief River Falls by the score of 75-62 on Friday night.  The loss puts the Spartans at 1-1 on the season.

M State struggled with their shooting, hitting just 34.8% (24-69) of their field goal attempts and only 28.9% (11-38) of their three-pointers.  Nic Pearson led the way with 22 points and Zakaria Zaid added 9 points and 10 rebounds.  Renell Edwards dished out 8 assists off the bench.

Brenson Alteme and Bakri Gubara each had 26 points for the Pioners and Kenny Placide and Isaiah Williams each grabbed 10 rebounds. Zack Meyer had a team high 7 assists.  Northland shot 42.9% (30-70) and hit 43.3% (13-30) of their treys.  They held a 54-37 advantage on the boards.

“It was a back and forth first half until the final 3 minutes when Northland hit some big 3s to take a 9 point half-time lead,” stated Spartan Head Coach Shawn Sorenson.  “Turnovers and giving up offensive rebounds hurt us the whole game.  In the second half they really moved the ball well and hurt us with attacking the basket on perimeter drives.  They got a large lead in second half with about 6 minutes to go and then we fought back late but it was too much of a deficit to get all the way back.”

M State will head to Grand Rapids to face Itasca Community College on Tuesday night.