BY AUSTIN RUSH | The Statesman The 2015-16 UMD men’s basketball team walked off the floor of the Romano gym to a standing ovation from the home crowd after losing in the first round of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference tournament.
The Bulldogs dropped their final game of the season 80-74 to the University of Sioux Falls. Senior forward Pierre Newton lead the charge and had 20 of his game-high 32 points in the first half. Newton was 50 percent from field tonight and shot 2-4 from beyond the arc.
“Before the game, I'm thinking about just letting the game come to me. I get into my positive vibe, stay confident and think in my head, ‘no one can guard me, no one can guard me and just go out there and execute,’” Newton said.
On a night where it seemed like no one could guard Newton, USF Head Coach Chris Johnson shared his take on the outgoing senior.
“We didn’t have an answer for Pierre Newton tonight, but I don’t know anyone that does,” Johnson said.
Leading the team in scoring tonight, Newton was the vocal leader of this Bulldog team tonight and throughout the entire season.
“I tried to be the vocal leader this year—coach gave me the opportunity early and said you’re the leader, you have to go out there and show the guys,” Newton said.
The Bulldogs went 21-57 from the field tonight and went into the locker room at halftime with a 34-29 lead over USF. The Cougars would go on a 12-0 run midway through the second half that the Bulldogs couldn’t recover from.
“This has been a season of missed opportunities. We were up, we were playing really well, had a couple of adverse situations, then we just completely fell apart,” head coach Matt Bowen said. “The effort was great but we just couldn’t get it back.”
The Bulldogs’ three point shot troubles continued as they went 6-21 for the game, good for 28.6 percent on the night. Shots weren’t falling late in the game when they needed to be, but the resilience of the Bulldogs never died. They brought the score within one possession several times before the final buzzer. “Once we get through practice and get them all calmed down I think they do a really good job. Unfortunately as the game goes on and (we) adjust to the flow of the game, we get distracted easy and adverse situations we don’t handle well,” Bowen said.