AMES, Iowa--North Dakota's first taste of regular season Division I basketball in six years was not a favorable one.
The undersized Sioux were done in by Iowa State's super athleticsm and depth in a 77-51 loss to the Cyclones in front of 13,104 tonight at Hilton Coliseum. The loss snaps UND's winning streak at 10 games and drops the Sioux to 10-4 heading into next Thursday's North Central Conference opener.
This one was largely decided in the final seven minutes of the first half, when the Cyclones put a relatively close game out of reach in a hurry.
Iowa State, which came into the game shooting 45 percent from the field, got off to a blazing start thanks to some hot shooting in the early minutes of the game. When ISU's Bryan Petersen knocked down his second three-pointer he gave the Cyclones a 12-2 lead before the game was barely three minutes old.
But the Sioux managed to keep the game close through the midway point of the first half. Senior forward Emmanuel Little (Chicago, Ill.) connected on a baseline drive with 7:30 remaining, pulling the Sioux to within 11 points at 29-18.
But from that point on the Cyclones put the game out of reach by closing the half with a 19-4 run, holding the Sioux to just one field goal over the final seven minutes of the period.
UND was plagued by first-half shooting woes, shooting just 27.3 percent (6-for-22) from the field. Additionally, the Sioux did not force a single Iowa State turnover in the opening half while turning the ball over 12 times themselves, and UND had just one first-half assist.
Iowa State, led by scoring leader Wesley Johnson, shot 50 percent in the first half. Johnson went 4-for-6 from the field and scored 13 first-half points. Johnson finished the night with a game-high 15 points.
The Sioux didn't fare much better at the start of the secnd. The the Cyclones came out of the locker room with a 14-0 run, holding UND off the scoreboard until 6:16 inot the half when sophomore Travis Bledsoe (Minneapolis, Minn.) hit a baseline jumper off an inbounds pass.
UND did, however, enjoy its best stretch in the second half, putting together an 11-0 run, with five of the 11 points coming from senior guard Ervin Youmans (Hobbs, N.M.). The Sioux held the Cyclones with out a point for nearly five minutes during that stretch and cut the ISU lead to 70-45 with 4:10 left in the game.
The Sioux then pushed the run to 15-4 after a running three-pointer by senior guard and Iowa native Josh Doyle (Bettendorf, Iowa). That made it 73-49 with 1:50 remaining, Iowa State's smallest lead since late in the first half.
UND managed to play the Cylcones even (29-29) in the second half.
If there was one bright spot for the Sioux, it was their play on the glass, where UND out-rebounded the taller Cyclones by a 36-34 margin.
UND shot a season low 32.6 percent from the field compared to 47.5 percent by Iowa State.
Little, who led all players with eight rebounds, and Bledsoe led the Sioux with 12 points each. Youmans added 10.
UND finished with 21 turnovers, its most since the second game of the season.
The Sioux begin NCC play next Thursday at St. Cloud State and Saturday at Minnesota State.
Notes: The game was UND's first against Division I competition since opening the 2006-07 season with exhibition games at Purdue and Indiana. The last time the Sioux faced a DI team in the regular season was in 2001-02 against Kansas ... Former UND men's basketball coach Dave Gunther and former Sioux All-American kicker Jeff Glas were among those in attendance at tonight's game.
