O.J. Harrison hit a 3-point basket with 18 seconds remaining, the first UND field goal in nearly eight minutes as the Fighting Sioux held off the University of Missouri-Kansas City 61-56.
It was the season opener for both teams and the first game as a Division I school for UND.
Daniel Harkins led the Sioux with 14 points, Travis Bledsoe had 13, Pat Mitchell 12 and Harrison 10.
The Sioux led by 15 points at halftime, but UMKC grabbed a 56-55 lead with just a minute left in the game.
UND coach Brian Jones called a timeout and Harrison hit a 20-foot jumper from the left wing to give the Sioux a 58-56 lead.
UMKC's Reggie Hamilton, who led the Kangaroos with 22 points, forced a shot over 6-foot-7 sophomore Derek Benter, missed it and Travis Bledsoe grabbed the rebound.
Bledsoe and Darius Joseph each hit a free throw in the final 10 seconds to seal the victory.
"We are here and we belong and we went out and proved it," said Jones. "We got out of our rhythm in the second half, but we won ugly. We got stops when we needed to and hit free throws when we needed to. What was impressive is the way our seniors played tonight."
Harrison's game-winning shot was the first made field goal for the Sioux since Pat Mitchell's 3-point basket with 8:02 mark.
"O.J. was recruited by UMKC after he left Utah State so it seemed fitting," said Jones.
The Sioux shot 50 percent from the floor for the game, but made just four shots in the second half, making only 33 percent. UND also survived 12 of 22 shooting from the free throw line and 29 turnovers, 18 of those in the second half.
UND held the Kangaroos to just 28 percent shooting from the floor, but UMKC got back into the game thanks to 16 of 19 free throw shooting.
The Sioux out-rebounded UMKC 34-32 and made 9 of 18 3-point shots with Mitchell and Bledsoe each making three.
The Sioux led 39-24 at halftime, but UMKC came out of the locker room inspired, forcing seven UND turnovers and scoring the first 12 points of the half to cut UND's lead to five, 39-36 just five and a half minutes into the second half.
The Sioux finally got on the board at the 14:17 mark when sophomore center Derek Benter scored his first points of the game to increase the lead back to five, 41-36.
The Kangaroos kept up the pressure and cut the lead to a basket, 41-39.
With 11:52 left in the game the Sioux had made just 1-of-5 second half shots and had turned the ball over 10 times.
UMKC had consecutive possession to tie the game or take the lead, but the Sioux forced two turnovers of their own and O.J. Harrison knocked down a free throw to increase the lead to three, 42-39.
But UMKC's Reggie Hamilton knocked down a 3-point basket with 10:20 left in the game to tie the game at 42.
UMKC then grabbed its first lead since the 13 minute mark of the first half when Hamilton hit a pair of free throws to give the Kangaroos a 44-42 lead with 10 minutes remaining.
UND regained the lead when Mitchell hit a free throw with 8:38 remaining and after a UMKC layup, Mertens blocked shot led to a transition 3-point basket by Mitchell to push the lead to 48-46.
A Mertens' free throw increased the lead to 49-46 and UND stepped up the defense as Mitchell and Derek Benter blocked a shot apiece in one possession.
Benter's free throw with six and a half minutes left increased the lead to four, 50-46.
UMKC cut the lead to 50-48 and had a chance to tie the game again, but Darius Joseph grabbed a defense rebound, was fouled and hit a pair of free throws with just under six minutes left to push the lead back to four, 52-48. It was Joseph's first points of the game.
With 5:21 left, Benter was fouled by Johnson, his fifth foul, and hit two from the charity stripe to push the lead back to four.
But Hamilton tied the game for UMKC at 54 with a driving layup with 4:23 left.
UND's Mertens appeared to give the Sioux lead on a driving jumper, but was called for an offensive foul.
UMKC had two chances to take the lead on its next possession, but missed a pair of shots.
The Sioux also had two chances on their next possession, but missed a shot and turned the ball over leaving the score tied with 1:57 left in the game and UMKC calling a timeout.
UMKC missed a shot and Harkins grabbed the defensive rebound and was fouled with 1:33 remaining. He made the second of two free throws to give the Sioux a 55-54 lead.
The Kangaroos responded with a layup by forward Daniel Brady with just over a minute left to give UMKC a 56-55 lead.
Darius Joseph was then called for a charge on UND's next possession, but the Sioux forced a missed shot and called a timeout with 36 seconds remaining to set up Harrison's heroics.
Playing in tiny Swinney Gymnasium, both teams struggled offensively early on.
The Sioux started slowly against UMKC's 1-3-1 zone defense turning the ball over on their first four possessions and didn't attempt a shot until nearly two and a half minutes were gone.
But defensively UND responded forcing four turnovers and limited the Kangaroos to just 1-of-5 shooting over the first five minutes of the game.
Harkins finally got the Sioux on the board at the 16:45 mark with a driving layup and gave the team its first lead at 4-2 with another layup at the 15:54 mark.
UMKC ran off five consecutive points to grab a 7-4 advantage, but Bledsoe took over the action.
The junior guard scored 11 of the team's next 13 points including nine in a row to give the Sioux a 24-13 advantage with 5:12 left in the half. He made all four of his shots from the floor including a perfect 3-for-3 from 3-point range.
He was so effective that he shot UMKC right out of its zone defense.
The Sioux made the Kangaroos pay as they spread out their offense and continued their offensive efficiency.
Redshirt freshman Pat Mitchell hit consecutive 3-point baskets to increase the lead to 30-17. Junior Travis Mertens scored on a put-back and Harkins scored on another driving layup to cap a 7-0 run and give the Sioux a 34-17 advantage with 2:37 left in the half.
UMKC seemed to be grabbing momentum heading into the locker room by scoring five consecutive points to cut the lead to 36-24, but Harkins put the exclamation point on an inspiring first half effort with a 3-point basket from the top of the key at the buzzer to give UND a 39-24 halftime lead.
The Sioux made 16-of-28 points from the floor for 57 percent including 7 of 12 3-point shots for just over 58 percent.
UND out-rebounded the Kangaroos 19-13 while holding UMKC to just over 25 percent shooing from the field and 3-of-12 from behind the 3-point arch.
Harkins led the Sioux in scoring in the first half with 12 points while Bledsoe had 11 and Mitchell added eight points.
The only advantage the Kangaroos had over the Sioux in the first half came from the free throw line as UND did not attempt a free throw while UMKC was 7-of-8.
