Minnesota State University Moorhead true freshman star guard Carson Johnson has what famed college basketball announcer Bill Raftery refers to as "onions." You can specifically define that as you wish, but in summary it means a player has the guts to take and make big shots in important moments.

Johnson, playing in his first NCAA Division II regional tournament, was mostly quiet Saturday against Fort Hays State as the Kansas team played its usual brand of strong, physical defense. With Kaleb Hammeke not giving Johnson an inch and the Tigers running a second body at him whenever possible, the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference's men's tournament MVP started 1 of 10 from the field.

Johnson likely hasn't been 1 of 10 since he was 7 years old.

There were also foul problems. Johnson sat much of the second half with three fouls, got back into the game with 7:52 left in the second half and was headed back to the bench with four fouls with 7:42 showing on the clock. Less than ideal.

It was Johnson's play in the final few minutes that would have earned praise from Raftery.

With the Dragons clinging to a 57-53 lead, the 6-footer pulled up and buried a jump shot with 2:28 left for a six-point lead.

When the Tigers were again within four at 61-57, Johnson's floating runner in the lane splashed through with 53 seconds left for another six-point advantage.

Onions.

Johnson finished with just 11 points on 3-of-12 shooting, well below his 20-point average and even farther below the 26 points he averaged in the three games at the NSIC tournament.

But the Dragons won.

The final was 69-62 in favor of MSUM in a crash-bang affair in which offense was at a premium, few shots went uncontested and players were regularly scraping themselves off the court at host Washburn University.

That's Fort Hays' trademark. It went into the game leading the nation in scoring defense, allowing just 59.2 points. Sort of impressive in Division II, which is heavy on guards, offense and shooting in this 3-point era.

"We knew they were going to make it a grinder game and force us into tough shots. They were getting us out of a lot of stuff. It took us awhile to get used to that physicality, to be honest," MSUM coach Tim Bergstraser said. "Our guys played physical, but it's a little different that what we're used to."

The Dragons held their own, no doubt, even as Johnson and fellow guards Jacob Beeninga (six points) and JaMir Price (four points) all struggled to get in the flow.

"They'll obviously say they didn't play great offensively," Bergstraser said. "But they did some good things on the defensive end for us."

Good thing the Dragons have a 7-foot-1 option in their pocket.

The biggest big man in the tournament, Jacob Jennissen, dominated when the Dragons needed him most.

The final stat line showed 22 points and 21 rebounds for the junior, including six offensive rebounds and an 8 of 10 showing from the free throw line on a day when MSUM was struggling on the freebies.

Nice fallback plan for a Division II team. When your freshman phenomenon is struggling, turn to your junior giant.

"We just didn't have an answer for the big fella," Fort Hays coach Mark Johnson said. "I mean, he was a handful and to his credit he really attacked the glass. I would've like to see them get a foul or two called on those offensive rebounds, but to their credit they were fantastic and we couldn't keep them off the glass."

MSUM had a 16-5 edge in offensive rebounds and 40-25 overall. Winning numbers.

Jennissen wasn't afraid to mix it up in the paint. One Fort Hays player fouled out and three others finished with four fouls. Much credit to Jennissen.

"Going into this game we knew it was going to be physical and I just kind of tried to embrace that the best I could," Jennissen said. "That was my attempt of just playing as hard as I could."

The points and rebounds were season highs for Jennissen, a transfer from Division I Colorado State originally from Sauk Centre, Minnesota. Timing is everything in life.

For a good stretch of the second half, Jennissen was the focus of the offense. That's a rare occurrence with a player like Johnson on the team, but Bergstraser had to dial up something with the Dragons struggling so badly in the first half. They trailed 34-31 at the break.

"We really made it difficult on them, outside of handling the big boy. I thought they did a good job in the second half. Incredible job by their coaching staff when they really made a conscious effort to pound it into him," Mark Johnson said. "They did that about three or four times in a row and that really made it a challenge on us."