MORRIS, MINN. – The Valley City State men's basketball team won its final non-conference game of the season on Wednesday night, rolling to a 93-61 road victory at Minnesota-Morris.
 
Cleveland Bedgood poured in 24 points to lead five Vikings in double figures, and Hunter Lyman posted an 18-point, 14-rebound double-double in the 32-point victory.
 
Valley City State improves its record to 8-6 overall so far this season. The Vikings are back in action Jan. 12 when they begin conference play by hosting Dakota State University.
 
VCSU closed out non-conference play with a bang on Wednesday, jumping out to a 24-point halftime lead at 53-29 before cruising in the second half.
 
Bedgood led the Vikings with 24 points on 9-for-15 shooting. He also dished out a team-high 8 assists and is now averaging 18 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists per game this season.
 
Lyman had his seventh double-double of the season in Wednesday's win, posting 18 points and 14 rebounds. He went 8-for-9 shooting and had four offensive rebounds. The Vikings had a 51-33 rebounding advantage, including 18 offensive rebounds – six of which came from Ousseynou Ngom.
 
LaDarious Stanfield filled up the stat sheet with 12 points, 8 rebounds and 2 steals. Agwa Nywesh made three 3's and tallied 11 points, 6 rebounds and a team-high 3 steals. Caden Grinde added 10 points, and both Grinde and Cayden Rickard had three assists in the win. All 10 Vikings who played had at least two points.
 
The Vikings shot 47 percent overall (36-76), 24 percent on 3's (7-29) and 74 percent at the line (14-19). The defense had 10 steals and forced 13 turnovers that led to 17 VCSU points.
 
Minnesota-Morris shot 38 percent overall (24-64), 19 percent on 3's (5-27) and 62 percent at the line (8-13). The Cougars fall to 7-5 overall this season with the loss.
 
Up next: VCSU has the rest of this week off before beginning conference play. The Vikings host Dakota State (Jan. 12) and Bellevue University (Jan. 13) next weekend to start the NSAA conference schedule.