Former MAHS star ending college hoops career

Morris' Brett Winkelman and his North Dakota State University teammates Ben Woodside, Mike Nelson and Lucas Moormann couldn't have asked for a better ending to their four years of playing college basketball in the Bison Sports Arena.

Playing in front of an announced crowd of 5,790, the four four-year starters rolled to a 96-74 win Tuesday night over rival South Dakota State. The win not only moved NDSU one step closer to a Summit League regular-season championship, it ended their Bison Sports Arena career with a 48-5 home record.

Winkelman, the 6-6 former Morris Area forward, officially became NDSU's No. 2 all-time scorer with his 10 points. The seniors combined for 69 of the 96 points, 10 of the 15 assists and 11 of the 12 3-pointers.

"It was a packed house and we played extremely well. It was a great game to go out on," said Woodside, the 5-foot-11 guard from Albert Lea, Minn., who led the Bison with 32 points.

"This is definitely what I envisioned," said Moormann, the 6-11 center from Dickinson, N.D., who had nine points and four rebounds. "It's phenomenal. It was one of the best games we have been a part of."

Nelson, a 6-4 guard from Madison, Wis., drained four 3-pointers to score 18 points.

The seniors posted their second 20-win season, improving to 20-6 overall. They also improved to 14-2 in the Summit League, reducing their magic number to two to clinch a regular-season championship. Any combination of a Bison win and an Oral Roberts loss will give the Bison their first conference title since 1995.

SDSU head coach Scott Nagy had praise for NDSU's seniors.

"They're good. It's unusual to have a group of kids go through four years together like they did. They did it the right way."