GRAND FORKS, N.D.--For the second straight game, North Dakota face a sizeable second-half deficit on its home court. And for the second straight game, the Sioux were able to rally and escape with a victory.
Junior forward O.J. Harrison scored 19 points and Travis Mertens had 11 points and 10 rebounds to bring the Sioux back from an 11-point hole in a 63-58 win over Dickinson State in front of 1,782 at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.
UND improved to 6-3 with the win while the Blue Hawks fell to 6-6.
DSU led for virtually the entire first half, taking a 38-30 lead to the locker room thanks in large part to five 3-pointers by sophomore guard Nathan Lebsock.
The Sioux hit a quick bucket on their opening possession of the second half, but the Blue Hawks countered with back-to-back jumpers by Fred Scheltinga and Joshua Walker and found themselves up 42-32 less than two minutes into the second half.
UND managed to cut the deficit to four on a Mertens layup and a Harrison dunk and trailed 42-38 with 15:53 left in the second half.
However, the Sioux offense went cold, enduring a seven-minute stretch without a field goal that nearly doomed them. Lebsock, who finished with a game-high 26 points, knocked down his sixth trey to make it 47-38 with 13:34 remaining, and Branden Thomas converted a layup 34 seconds later, giving the Blue Hawks their largest lead at 49-38 with an even 13 minutes left on the clock.
But in a script eerily similar to last Wednesday's comeback victory over Valley City State, the Sioux slowly chipped away at the lead.
Sioux guard Dustin Monsebroten (Jr., Newfolden, Minn.) ignited the rally with a 3-pointer with 8:15 remaining, making it a 49-44 DSU lead.
On UND's next possession, Monsebroten forced a DSU turnover and missed a layup in transition, but Harrison trailed and slammed home the rebound, cutting it to 49-46.
Scheltinga countered with a short jumper to push the lead back to five, but redshirt freshman Pat Mitchell (Des Moines, Iowa) knocked down a 3-pointer with 7:11 to go to make it 51-49.
The finally pulled even with 5:19 remaining, capitalizing on another Blue Hawk turnover. Mertens missed a layup on the break, but Harrison once again cleaned up the rebound to knot it at 51-51.
UND grabbed its first lead of the second half on a pair of Mertens free throws with 4:51 remaining, and the Sioux held the lead the rest of the way, with three key free throws by Monsebroten in the final 35 seconds sealing the win.
Mertens', whose 11 boards were a career high, became the first Sioux this season to register a double-double.
The Sioux shot 50 percent from the field, going 11-for-22 in each half. The Blue Hawks countered by going 47.2 percent from the field.
UND owned a 32-26 rebounding margin.
The Sioux will wrap up the first half of the season with a brief, two-game road trip, with stops at Green Bay on Saturday, Dec. 20 and Wichita State oin Monday, Dec. 22.
Notes: Senior G Wes Porter (Arvada, Colo.) did not play due to injury ... Senior G Darius Joseph (Tacoma, Wash.) returned from a one-game absence and came off the bench with five points, four assists and three rebounds. He also had five turnovers ... Junior G Travis Bledsoe (Minneapolis, Minn.) went 2-for-2 from 3-point range and needs to hit three more to reach 100 for his career.
