VALLEY CITY, N.D. – Valley City State took on Dakota Wesleyan for a game leading into the holiday break. The Tigers ended the game on a 14-4 run to pull out a 65-59 win over the Vikings at the Bubble on Saturday, December 20^th.

The Vikings are now 4-8 on the season. Dakota Wesleyan is 6-8 on the year.

The first half was back and forth with neither team able to gain control of the contest. Valley City State took its first lead at 11-9 on a bucket by Nez Chehade with 13:31 to go in the first half. A three-pointer by the Tigers' Tyson Stevenson made it 12-11 Dakota Wesleyan with 12:09 to go in the first half. Taylor Bryant-Frey gave the Vikings the lead right back with a three-pointer of his own, making it 14-12 VCSU. Wesleyan would use an 8-0 run to regain the lead. A three-point play by Stevenson made it 20-14 Tigers with 10:02 remaining in the first half.

JR Cison would score six straight points over the next 19 seconds to tie the game at 20-20. A three-point play by Logan Deal gave the Vikings the lead back at 23-22 with 8:25 to go in the first half. Kaleb Larson would score in the lane to give Valley City State its biggest lead of the half, three-points, 25-22. Andrew Young tied the game at 25 with a three-pointer with 7:09 to go in the half. A Stevenson three-pointer made it 28-25 Tigers with 6:10 to go in the half. A bucket by Cison made the halftime score 33-31 Dakota Wesleyan.

The Vikings came out of the locker room and scored the first seven points of the second half to take their biggest lead at 38-33. Six lead changes occurred in the first ten minutes of the second half. The biggest lead was seven points. A basket inside by Logan Deal made it 55-48 Vikings with 6:00 to go in the second half. A three-pointer by the Tigers' Andrew Younan made it 61-59 with 53 seconds to go in the second half. Easton Neuendorf and Anthony Riggans combined to go 4 for 4 from the free throw line in the final 26 seconds to seal the win.

JR Cison and Taylor Bryant-Frey each had twelve points to lead the Vikings. Kaleb Larson was also in double figures with ten points. Logan Deal had nine points and game high 14 rebounds. Nez Chehade had six points and a team high three assists. Alex Lester had twelve rebounds for Valley City State.

Up Next: The Vikings are off until Friday, January 2^nd and Saturday, January 3^rd when Montana State-Northern and the University of Providence come to The Bubble for Frontier Conference action. The men tipoff both nights at 7:00 p.m.