by Dax Larson
March 07, 2006
For the first time in the 82-year history of men’s basketball at Minnesota State, the Mavericks are going to the NCAA Division II National Tournament for the second-consecutive season.
Saturday in Winona, Minn., the regional quarterfinals for the tournament take place with the No. 4-seeded Mavericks playing the No. 5 seed, Nebraska-Kearney, in the North Central Region.
“We have gone places in five years where no one thought we could go,” said head coach Matt Margenthaler. “This is my aspiration.”
The Mavericks posted a 23-6 on the season. MSU won the regular-season NCC championship for only the second time in school history and the first outright title in program history. The Mavericks backed up the regular season title with a first-place finish in the Wells Fargo Finals in Mankato this past weekend.
The UNK Lopers are 23-7 on the season and compete in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. UNK won the RMAC tournament last weekend, beating Metropolitan State 71-68.
The Lopers are appearing in their fifth-consecutive NCAA tournament and 10 times in their history. UNK is 9-10 all-time in the NCAA tournament.
UNK won the North Central Region in 2003 and appeared in the finals in 2004 and 1999.
“It’ll be nice to see a different team and a different style,” Margenthaler said. “It will be a good match-up for us.”
The Lopers are led by 6-6 junior forward Dusty Jura. The RMAC Tournament Most Valuable Player averaged 18.5 points, 9.2 rebounds and 3 assists per game in the regular season. Jura has accumulated an impressive resume at UNK after being redshirted for his first season at Division I Northern Iowa. After transferring to UNK, Jura was named RMAC Freshman of the Year, has earned First Team All-RMAC honors twice and was selected to the Daktronics All-Region second-team.
If MSU is to win the game against UNK they will face the winner of the game between No. 1 Winona State and No. 8 South Dakota. WSU has beat the Mavericks twice this season.
The Warriors beat MSU 81-72 in Winona Nov. 15 and 75-68 Dec. 3 in the Taylor Center.
Following their last loss to the Warriors, the Mavericks went on a 13-game winning streak and have only dropped three games since then. The fact that MSU regularly plays in McCown Gymnasium may aid the Mavericks.
Dax Larson is a Reporter staff writer
