Dragons Ready To Dance With March Madness On the Horizon
MSUM Men's Basketball Prepares For the NSIC Quarterfinals on Sunday
MOORHEAD, MN. — The MSUM Dragon’s men’s basketball team has been among the best teams in the nation all year and have a great chance of making it to the national tournament but first they need to take care of business in the NSIC Tournament. The Dragons also have a tough matchup this weekend in the quarterfinals, Winona State defeated MSUM 83-72 when they last met in late January.
The Dragons finished the regular season 24-4 and 9-2 in conference. Winona State meanwhile is coming hot riding a six game win streak. The Dragon’s know that the Warriors will be a big test in the first round.. Head Coach Tim Bergstraser spoke about the last time they met and how the team looks to adjust this time around.
“We had a double digit lead and then we got loose on the offensive end which sparked their offense on the other end. And you know we’re not going to use not having Jamir and Gabe not being in there as an excuse. At the end we just didn’t play a great basketball game. Winona is a very hot team right now. They’re playing great basketball, coming into the tournament it’s a perfect time for them to do that. I’m just anticipating a really good physical battle. If you’re a competitor, it’s something you should be looking forward to being a part of so I’m just excited to see how our guys respond to it,” said Bergstraser.
No matter the opponent, the Dragons feel can beat any team in the country as they prepare for the tournament.
“I believe we can beat anyone in the country on any given night; I think the talent we have, I think we’re as good as any team in the country. Night in, night out, we can just play consistent basketball. Trust in what coaches are saying. I really don’t see any team being able to beat us when we are on our A game,” said junior point guard, Jabob Beeninga.
The Dragons come into the tournament with valuable experience under their belts. MSUM won the NSIC the last two seasons and has made the national tournament three straight years.
“It’s nice being able to draw on those experiences for sure looking forward now to the conference tournament and the national tournament coming up but we’ve had guys who have done it before. So it’s just kind of comforting going into these situations knowing that we have experienced guys who are capable of performing in those big time games so we’re definitley prepared and ready to go,” said Beeninga.
“Staying focused, staying lock in, like don’t worry about no outside noise; one game at a time mentality and I feel like we should be good,” said junior guard, Ja’Kair Sanchez.
“It’s the best time of year and I think we’ve done a great job this year of putting ourselves in a good position. We just hope we’re going to play our best basketball going into this weekend. We’re going to focus one game at a time. Because we already understand how good Winona is,” said Berstraser.
