UND's offense wilts as NDSU's explodes in regular-season finale rout
· Yahoo Sports
Feb. 28—FARGO — During a timeout in the second half of North Dakota State's season finale against UND, a Bison fan hit a halfcourt shot to win $5,000.
It seemed that anyone and everyone sporting green and yellow could hit a shot from deep Saturday evening at Scheels Center.
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The Bison (24-7, 14-2) crushed the Fighting Hawks (16-16, 10-6) 96-63 on Senior Night, powered by 16 triples and a 55.2% shooting performance from 3-point range.
It was a 180-degree turnaround from North Dakota State's 22-point loss to St. Thomas last Thursday.
"We went hard the next day at practice despite us losing like that," junior guard Damari Wheeler-Thomas said. "Normally, you might think we'd get a rest day, but we needed to practice hard, and that's what we did."
UND led by as many as nine points in the first half and held a slight 27-26 edge with 4 minutes, 49 seconds until halftime.
NDSU junior Trevian Carson hit a 3-pointer to retake the lead. Then senior guard Tay Smith hit a triple of his own. Then another.
Smith never cooled off. He scored a team-high 28 points and shot 7-for-11 from deep.
"We settled in, got some stops, created some separation," North Dakota State head coach David Richman said. "Tay Smith was on fire.. It was a terrific job by our guys today."
Wheeler-Thomas and sophomore guard Andy Stefonowicz were also effective from range. Wheeler-Thomas scored 19 points and shot 3-for-8 from deep, while Stefonowicz scored 15 and shot 4-for-6.
The Hawks, who had led for most of the first half, began to spiral after the Bison's 3-point barrage.
The Bison closed the first half on an 18-4 run, and suddenly UND went into the locker room trailing 44-31.
It only got worse from there.
Senior guard Eli King made the Hawks' first field goal of the second half nearly six minutes in. North Dakota State responded with a 9-1 run, powered entirely by 3-pointers.
UND's deficit had ballooned to 26 points.
"North Dakota State dug themselves out of a hole, and I felt like we all jumped in it," Hawks head coach Paul Sather said. "That's what it felt like. And it was really hard to pull it out. It was quiet, it was not connected. It wasn't that fight that we've been having."
UND's offense wilted in the second half. The Hawks shot 30.3% from the field and 4-for-21 from 3-point range, while the Bison shot 63.3% and 9-for-13 as the route continued. UND finished shooting 31%.
"I thought the offense started getting sloppy in the first half," Sather said. "We were missing zone one finishes, we weren't playing with that kind of life and energy, finishing plays on offense. ... There are so many things to kind of put your finger on, I don't know if it was just one, but everything was impacted by it, and we weren't able to turn that momentum around."
Redshirt freshman guard Greyson Uelmen was the only Hawk to score double digits. He shot 4-for-13 and scored 12 points.
North Dakota State will head into the Summit League tournament as the No. 1 seed. The Bison will play the winner of the No. 8 vs. No. 9 game on Thursday.
The Hawks are locked into the No. 3 seed. They will play the No. 6 seed Friday night at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center in Sioux Falls, S.D.
"These guys have done some really special things this year," Sather said. "They've shown that they can get on that floor and play with anybody. Let's go fight for that, let's go fight for that team. Let's go be that team and throw distractions aside, throw whatever else is going on outside, and just lock in for this team."