Home > Sports > Men’s basketball falls short of playoff upset
Men’s basketball falls short of playoff upset
BY ARIK FORSMAN
STATESMAN STAFF WRITER
iISSUE: 78/24
Down by three points with three seconds left, the No. 7-seed Bulldogs’ shot a 3-pointer that didn’t find the net, as No.2-seed Augustana College went on to beat the UMD men’s basketball team 78-73 in the opening round of the North Central Conference playoffs in Sioux Falls, S.D. last Wednesday. The Bulldogs finished the season with a disappointing 9-19 record, down from 16-13 last season.
“There’s no question this program has been successful over the years, and I think this year was definitely an enigma where we had a lot of things go wrong that really kept piling on,” Coach Gary Holquist said. “Obviously it was a lot to do with the injuries that we suffered through this year. We never really got a lot of continuity.”
Junior Brian Sykora finished his scorching second-half play with 23 points and 18 rebounds in the loss, according to the UMD Web site. Sophomore Steve Duncan scored 18 points, while senior Jordan Nuness, playing in his final game as a Bulldog, scored 15 points. Nuness also broke the UMD season (100) and career records (241) for 3-pointers made, despite spending just three years in the UMD program, according to the Web site.
Holquist reflected on Nuness’s achievements afterwards. “It’s something to be said,” Holquist said. “There are a lot of great players that have gone before him that have held that 3-point record. Jordan’s had a tremendous career here.” Sykora and sophomore guard Jordan Schade will be the only starters from the playoff game returning next season. But UMD will be glad to get senior captain John Vaudreuil back, after the forward missed the entire season with a knee injury. Holquist said the three players will make a good inside-outside combination next year.
“We have on paper the makings to be very successful next season,” Holquist said. “As a coaching staff and as players, we’ve got to break some of the deficiencies that we allowed to creep into our program this year.”
