The Vikings knew they were in for a tough game with No. 5 Northwestern coming to town Saturday.  The Red Raiders looked the part of a top 10 team defeating the Vikings 100-72.

Northwestern had four players scoring in double digits Saturday.  Colton Kooima lead Northwestern with 25 points followed closely by Derek Buysse who scored 23 points.  The hot shooting Red Raiders shot 63 percent as a team going 37-59 from the field including 48 percent from behind the 3-point arch (11-23). Nathan Wedel and Riley Francis also scored in double digits for Northwestern scoring 16 and 14 respectively.

The Vikings of VCSU stayed close throughout the first half pulling within six points at 37-31 with just under two minutes remaining in the first half. The Vikings offense struggled against the defense of Northwestern shooting only 43 percent from the field and 27 percent from behind the arch.  The Vikings offense was led by Justyn Galloway who scored 22 points and added seven rebounds.  Jayden Ferguson and Rashad Satahoo also scored in double digits with 15 and 14 points respectively.

Valley City State falls to 2-3 on the season. Northwestern improves to 2-0

Valley City shot 43 percent from the field (28-65), 27 percent from 3 (6-22) and shot 77 percent from the charity strip (10-13).  Northwestern shot 63 percent from the field (37-59) including 48 percent from 3 (11-23) and 83 percent (15-18) from the free throw line.

Valley City State University basketball will be on the road Monday night facing the Minnesota State University Moorhead Dragons at 7 p.m. in Moorhead, Minn.