SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – After the best regular season in the program's DII history, the winning continued in the post season for the University of Sioux Falls Men's Basketball Team (22-7), which used 20 points from sophomore guard Chase Grinde and double-digits by four others to turn back Minot State, 79-68, in the opening round of the NSIC Sanford Health Tournament at the Stewart Center on Wednesday night.

The Cougars advance to face Minnesota State on Saturday at 5:30 pm in the tournament quarterfinals at the Sanford Pentagon. USF has a league-best five straight opening round victories and defeated MiSU for a third time in the league's postseason tourney.

"We scored it early but they made a bunch of shots. We tightened it up defensively and got our tough early start turned around," said USF Head Coach Chris Johnson, whose team is now 5-6 in NSIC Tournament play. "We had a good night overall. We had a lot of contributions with five guys in double-digits. Our defense was solid after their fast start. It is always tough to end another team's season," he said.

Grinde, who has led USF in scoring all season (12.8 ppg) had a solid performance and now has 21 career games, including 14 straight, in double-digits. He reached 20 points in a game for the fourth time of his career as he made 6-of-10 field goals and was 4-of-6 from three. A Spring Grove, Minn., native, Grinde also hit 4-of-5 free throws, had four rebounds and dished a career-best eight dimes. This season, he has hit 31-of-64 from three-point range for 48.4 percent and is hitting over 50 percent from the field (50.4 percent).

A junior forward from Andover, Minn., Slater also came up big for USF with 13 points, seven rebounds, two assists and only had one turnovers in 26 minutes on the floor. He made 9-of-10 free throws as the Cougars knocked down 20-of-29 for 69 percent. Three others also reached double-digits in points and freshman Jack Thompson, forward Teathloach Pal and guard Troy Houghton each scored 10 points. Houghton was 4-of-6 from the floor and had three rebounds and an assist. Pal, who had a game-high eight rebounds and registered a career-high four steals, hit 4-of-6 field goals. As for Thompson, he hit 4-of-8 field goals, had two rebounds and three assists in a solid floor game for USF.

USF, which led by 12 with 2:23 to play in the second half (71-59), took a 37-34 lead at the break and outscored MiSU, 42-34, over the final 20 minutes. The Cougars once again had a solid shooting second half to put a game away. The Cougars hit 58.3 percent from the floor on 14-of-24 shooting and converted 3-of-7 from three and 11-of-14 at the foul line. It was the difference as MiSU hit 12-of-25 shots for 48 percent but were just 6-of-18 from three.

Clearly, USF has used its second half prowess to earn victories time and again. The Cougars are averaging 48.3 percent from the field in the second half, which is six percentage points better than their first half average of 42.5 percent. USF is also making 39.3 percent from three which is over 8.5 percent better than their first half average. At 38.1 points per game in the second half, USF is nearly seven points better than their first half average of 31.4.

Overall, the Cougars knocked down 26-of-51 percent from the field as they surpassed 50 percent shooting for the 10^th time (8-2 record when shooting 50 percent or better). USF knocked down 7-of-22 threes for 31.8 percent and held a 33-20 rebound margin. This year, they have won the rebound battle in 26-of-29 games.

A few other factors helped USF advance. The team shared the ball with a season-high 18 assists on 26 made baskets. Also USF had just 11 turnovers and with nine steals were able to create a 21-11 margin in points from turnovers. With USF's size and strength, they also had the edge inside with a 28-22 margin in points in the paint. The rebound differential enabled USF to hold a 11-2 margin in second chance points. With Trevon Adams (eight points) and Devin Green (seven points) providing major contributions off the bench, USF had a 16-5 margin over the visitors.

MiSU, which led 20-13 in the first half, had a game-high 28 points from Kyle Beisch, who was 10-of-19 from the floor and made four triples. They also had 15 points from Trevor Rothstein, who hammered home 3-of-6 from three. Overall, they hit 50 percent on 25-of-50 shooting and hit 11-of-29 threes for 37.9 percent.

Scoring Summary -
With three three-pointers early, the Beavers took an early 11-6 lead over USF at 16:54 of the first half. Later the visitors took a 20-13 lead with 15 minutes to play before Grinde hit a three to cut the lead to four points.  in the opening round of the NSIC Sanford Health Tournament at the Stewart Center. The Beavers have hit 5-of-6 from three-point range.

Down 23-16, the Cougars battled battle and drew within 23-21 with 7:29 to play in the first half. After MiSU retook a seven-point lead (23-16), the Cougars began cutting into the deficit. Green's basket at 8:05 helped USF draw within, 23-20. Grinde stepped up four minutes later. He hit back-to-back threes as the Cougars took a 29-28 lead. When Adams knocked in a triple with 27 seconds left, the Cougars had a 37-32 advantage. At half, USF owned a 37-34 lead.

Quickly, MiSU cut into USF's lead and drew within a point at 37-36 but that was as close as they would get for the rest of the half. Grinde played a role in that scenario. He hit a three (18:18) and then converted a lay-up which turned into an "and 1" as USF took a 45-38 lead with 15:24 left to play. At the 13:27 mark USF had a 51-41 lead when Thompson hit a jumper just outside the paint.

After that, USF had the answer for every charge by MiSU. When the Beavers cut the lead to 56-51 (8:34), USF had a basket from Houghton. When they cut the margin to 60-56, Green found space inside for a basket and then hit a three-point on a fast break to help USF extend the lead to 65-56 (5:02). Again at the 4:07 mark, a three-point play by Kody Dwyer helped MiSU to pull within 65-59. But Thompson hit consecutive baskets and Houghton made a pair of foul shots as the Cougars took a 71-59 lead – its largest advantage of the game.

Still the visitors kept coming. Beisch hit a three and when he was fouled, the Beavers trailed 71-65 with 1:41 to play. But USF responded with foul shots from Grinde (1:01) and Thompson (:34) to hold off MiSU and earn the first-round win. And, USF was able to extended their all-time margin against MiSU to 11-4 with the double-digit verdict.