JAMESTOWN, N.D. – Despite holding a second-half lead and shooting over 51 percent from the field, Dickinson State came up short in a 96-92 Frontier Conference loss to Valley City State on Saturday evening at the Jamestown Civic Center.

The Blue Hawks (5-14, 2-10 Frontier) led 42-39 at the break and built a nine-point advantage midway through the second half, but were unable to close out the Vikings (6-11, 2-10), who shot 91.7 percent from the free-throw line and scored 57 points after halftime.

Griffyn Doughty led DSU with 18 points, hitting four three-pointers. Britton Cranston added 15 points off the bench and Isaiah Vargas chipped in 10, helping the Blue Hawks outscore the Vikings 44-18 in bench production.

Cordell Stinson logged 40 minutes and finished with 12 points and five rebounds. Detavius Frierson added nine points on a perfect 4-of-4 shooting night. The Blue Hawks finished the game 35-for-68 from the floor (51.5%) and 13-for-37 from deep (35.1%).

DSU built a 77-68 lead with just over five minutes remaining after a three-pointer from Weston Zacher, but Valley City State responded with a 28-15 run to close the game. Joel Nelson led the Vikings with 22 points on 9-of-13 shooting, while JR Cison and Kaleb Larson each scored 18. VCSU shot 52.4 percent from the field and was 22-of-24 at the line.

The Blue Hawks were hurt by 14 turnovers that led to 17 VCSU points and were narrowly outrebounded, 32-31. VCSU also held edges in second-chance points (12-7) and points in the paint (42-36).

Jake Daniel added six points and five rebounds for DSU. Zacher scored eight and hit a three, and Frierson also contributed three rebounds and one assist.