Sophomore Brendan McNally scored a career high 33 points, 23 in the second half as the University of Minnesota-Morris men’s basketball team won their fourth straight Tuesday night, with a 94-82 wi over Mayville State in Mayville.
McNally was 11-12 (92%) from the floor, 4-5 from three-point range and 7-8 at the line. His previous career high came in the Cougars season opening win over Valley City State when he scored 25 points.
McNally scored the Cougars first basket of the game to tie the score at 2-2.
After the Comets took a 4-2 lead, a lay-up by Kevin Cunniff and an old fashioned three-point play by Adam Sullivan gave UMM the lead for good at 7-4, nearly five minutes into the game.
The Cougars expanded the lead to 16, at 33-17 late in the first half when McNally completed a three-point play.
Adam Sullivan closed out the first half scoring with a lay-up following a steal to give UMM a 38-26 lead at the half.
The Cougars shot 57 percent (16-28) from the floor in the first 20 minutes, while Mayville State shot just 28 percent.
A pair of David Holler baskets put the Cougars up 42-28 to start the second half.
Over the next several minutes, the Cougar lead continued to grow and with seven minutes left in the game, Brent Durensky knocked down a jumper to give Minnesota- Morris a 20 point advantage at 70-50.
The Comets then put on some full court pressure and cut the deficit to nine at 79-70, but the Cougars were able to cash in at the line down the stretch and pick up the win.
For the second straight game, Head Coach Paul Grove had five players in double figures and in the four games to begin the season, he has had at least four in double digits in every game.
David Holler had 19 points for the second straight game connecting on eight of 11 shots from the field (73%), Adam Sullivan added 13, Matt Stenehjem and Brent Durensky each added 10 points.
Entering the game, the Cougars were averaging 95.0 ppg and shooting 53 percent from the floor.
In Tuesday’s win, UMM shot 60 percent (34-57) in scoring 94 points.
For the season, the Cougars are now shooting 56 percent, (141-258), including 32-70 (46%) from behind the arc and have scored at least 85 points in the first four games.
Minnesota-Morris now heads into a busy 12 day stretch that will see them play five games before taking a short break around Christmas.
The Cougars travel to St. Paul this Friday, December 3rd, for a 7:30 game with Bethel College.
Then on Monday, December 6th, the Cougars host Minnesota-Crookston at 7:30 and then Tuesday the 7th, travel to Marshall for a 7:00 game with SW Minnesota State.
They will close out the pre-Christmas part of the schedule with a pair of home games, first on Saturday December 11 at 1:00 when they entertain North Central University and then on Tuesday December 14th, they host Concordia-Moorhead at 7:00.
The 4-0 start for the Cougar men’s team is the best since the 1992-93 team started 5-0 and 9-2.