The Wolves now advance to face Augustana College on 4 p.m. on Saturday at Wachs Arena in the quarterfinals of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference tournament.
No lead was safe in this one. USF's biggest lead was nine points in the first half, while NSU's biggest lead was 55-48 with five minutes and 35 seconds left in the game. Sioux Falls continued to scrap and cut the lead to 59-58 with 1:15 left.
NSU seniors Collin Pryor and Geoffrey Firmin combined for three free throws to stretch the lead to 62-58 with 28 seconds left. A.J. Holland made his only basket of the game the next time down to slice it to 62-60 with 10 ticks remaining. Pryor then made one of two free throws with :09.6 seconds left. The Cougars, who were out of timeouts, rushed the ball up the court after Pryor's free throws. Robert Goffney missed a three-pointer at the buzzer that would have forced overtime and the Wolves escaped with the win.
"We knew we were going to have a dog fight tonight and that is what we got," Northern State coach Paul Sather said. "I thought both teams really competed hard in a game that wasn't always the prettiest, but I thought the competitiveness and fight in both teams was fun to watch."
The Wolves defeated the Cougars 74-60 in the first meeting back in January in Aberdeen. The two teams were heading in different directions to end the regular season. The Wolves finished the regular season by losing four of their last six games. The Cougars closed the regular season by winning four of their last six games, including a win over crosstown rival Augustana.
"They are a great team," Pryor said about USF. "They have progressed from the first time we played them until this time. They have gotten so much better. They gave us a battle. They gave us a fight and for 40 minutes we had to fight."
Pryor led the Wolves with 21 points and nine rebounds. He moved past Scott Kusler for 18th on the all-time scoring list. Firmin added 18 points, eight rebounds, five assists, three steals and zero turnovers. The Wolves other senior Dustin Tetzlaff had another solid performance with 13 points and four rebounds. Goffney powered the surging Cougars with 23 points, while David Maxwell netted 14 points.
The Cougars built a 19-12 lead to start the game and later stretched their lead to 27-18 with 3:14 left. Then things got chippy. The two teams were whistled for technicals on two different possessions just 36 seconds apart.
"It was very physical," Pryor said. "It is a high emotion game. High intensity."
The Cougars went ahead 29-22 after making their technical free throws. Northern then closed the first half on a 8-4 run to get within 33-30 at halftime. The two teams exchanged the lead five times over the first 12 minutes of the second half. Pryor gave NSU a 49-48 lead with eight minutes left. He added another field goal to put NSU ahead 51-48 on its next possession. NSU never trailed again.
Augustana College defeated Minnesota-Duluth 89-81 on Wednesday. The Vikings defeated the Wolves 72-62 earlier in the season at Wachs Arena. The winner of Saturday's game advances to the semifinals of the NSIC tournament in Rochester, Minn., on March 8-9.
"We are just going to come out and try to be the best team that we can be," Sather said, "and play as hard as we can and see if we can't find a way."
SIOUX FALLS (12-15, 8-14): A.J. Holland 1-5 0-0 2, Derek Brown 2-7 2-2 7, Robert Goffney 6-13 11-12 23, James Rader 2-8 0-0 4, Bryan Kielpinski 0-1 0-0 0, Jerry Dixon 1-2 1-1 4, Alex Robey 0-2 0-0 0, Keaton Moffitt 3-6 0-0 6, Patrick Couglin 0-0 0-0 0, David Maxwell 6-11 0-0 14. Totals 21-55 14-15 60.
NORTHERN STATE (20-10, 14-8): Mitch White 0-2 0-1 0, Jared Hannigan 1-2 0-0 2, Geoffrey Firmin 3-13 11-13 18, Collin Pryor 8-14 5-6 21, Dustin Tetzlaff 6-8 1-8 13, Skye Warwick 1-3 0-0 3, Mack Arvidson 0-1 0-1 0, Michael Emge 0-3 0-0 0, Trent Zomer 2-3 2-4 6. Totals 21-49 19-32 63.
Halftime score - Sioux Falls 33-30. 3-point field goals - Sioux Falls 4-21 (Holland 0-3, Brown 1-5, Goffney 0-3, Dixon 1-1, Robey 0-2, Moffitt 0-1, Maxwell 2-6); Northern 2-11 (White 0-1, Hannigan 0-1, Firmin 1-3, Warwick 1-3, Arvidson 0-1, Emge 0-2). Total fouls - Sioux Falls 27; Northern 16. Fouled out - Sioux Falls, Rader; Northern, None. Rebounds - Sioux Falls 37 (Rader 6); Northern 31 (Pryor 9). Assists - Sioux Falls 7 (Dixon 2); Northern 14 (Firmin 5). Blocks - Sioux Falls 5 (Kielpinski 4); Northern 2 (Tetzlaff 1, Emge 1). Steals - Sioux Falls 4 (Goffney 2); Northern 8 (Firmin 3). Turnovers - Sioux Falls 15; Northern 8. Officials - Mark Riggs, Darin Perius, Jeff Risk. A - 2,654.
Wednesday's Opening Round Results
Northern State 63, Sioux Falls 60
St. Cloud 95, Concordiat-St. Paul 90
Upper Iowa 86, Minot 72
Winona 77, Mary 64
Bemidji 71, Wayne 54
Mankato 86, Crookston 60
Moorhead 87, Southwest Minnesota State 78
Augustana 89, Duluth 81
SATURDAY
Quarterfinals at Higher Seeds
Upper Iowa at St. Cloud State
Bemidji State at Winona State
Moorhead at Mankato
Augustana at Northern State