MSUM Seniors React To Winning First NSIC Championship

Dragons won first championship in program history

MOORHEAD, Minn — Minnesota State-Moorhead men’s basketball did indeed “Do that thing” knocking off two nationally ranked teams, Augustana and Minnesota-Duluth to take home the program’s first conference title.

“My leg gave out on me bad,” the team’s leading scorer Lorenzo McGhee said. “Gavin was looking at me like “You good, you good.” nah man I can’t bro but I was like we up and we know how good everyone else is so if I go out there on this bad leg and people start scoring on me, that won’t be good. When the game was over and we won and came through I was like man, were champs. Were really champions. I never won a run ever until now.”

“I was always close. I’ve been third my whole life,” senior Gavin Baumgartner said. “I was third in state in high school. AAU was always second and third so it was a really cool feeling.

The Dragons won five in a row going in to the tournament and by the end of the regular season something special was coming.

“I think it just clicked for us at the right time. That flow. Were all locked in with each other,” Baumgartner said. “Were talking now and being more honest with each other. Hanging out with each other more and all the sudden it just leads to some wins.

“I knew we were going to do it at Minot,” McGhee said. “I had a stretch where I was just killing and then we go to Minot and I can’t do nothing but everyone else on the team is locked in. I was just like ‘woah yeah’ we about to do something crazy because after Minot was the postseason.”

Next up is the regionals next weekend where they’ll likely see three NSIC opponents again giving them belief this fast break in transition can go all the way to the final buzzer.

“We have to soak it up because no one can take it away from us but also Friday we’ll be back locked in,” McGhee said. “We’ll go hard at practice like we always do and we’ll just try and go shock the world.”

“We keep it rolling with our depth and keep practicing hard,” Baumgartner said. “Playing together, trusting each other and making winning plays, I really think we have a shot at it.”

The division two field will be revealed Sunday night.