ST. CLOUD, Minn.--St. Cloud State senior guard David Dreas scored 25 points to lead the Huskies to an impressive 74-54 North Central Conference win tonight over the Fighting Sioux, the league opener for both teams.
Dreas, the reigning NCC Player of the Week, proved to be a handful for UND at both ends of the court, going 9-for-17 from the field at one end, and coming up with five steals at the other. When it was all said and done, Dreas had lifted the Huskies to 12-3 on the season while moving into fourth place on SCSU's all-time scoring list.
The Sioux, now 10-5, appeared to be out of sync from the opening tip. And when Dreas knocked down a three-pointer with 7:44 left in the first half, he put the finishing touches on a 17-4 Husky run that put SCSU up 31-15.
UND found some life with a late first-half run of its and drew within eight points and had the ball with under a minute remaining. But the Sioux were unable to get off a strong shot and St. Cloud State's Brett Carmichael raced up the floor and hit a layup with five seconds left to push the lead to 10 going into the locker room.
In the second half, Dreas and the Huskies picked up right where they left off. Dreas hit a pair of jumpers in the midst of a 9-0 St. Cloud State spurt that expanded the lead to 18 and 50-32 before the half was five minutes old.
It was all Huskies from that point on, with nine different players finding the scoresheet.
Andrew Bernstetter had 13 points, nine rebounds and five blocks for St. Cloud State, which received eight assists and five steals from point guard Dusty Wabiszewski.
Senior Ervin Youmans (Hobbs, N.M.) scored 17 points to lead the Sioux and junior O.J. Harrison (Danville, Ill.) came off the bench with 12.
Senior forward Emmanuel Little (Chicago, Ill.) had an uncharacteristically tough night, mirroring UND's struggles as a team. Little committed nine of UND's 22 turnovers and finished with just seven points after going 2-for-7 from the field.
As a team the Sioux shot just 34 percent from the floor, including 29 percent in the first half.
UND will now shift its focus to Saturday night, when the Sioux will travel to Mankato to face Minnesota State at 8 p.m.
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