GRAND FORKS, N.D.--In the North Central Conference opener last month at St. Cloud State, the Sioux were burned by the outside shooting of Husky guard David Dreas.
Tonight, it was SCSU's post players who proved to be the difference.
Sophomores Ross Winnekins and Matt Schneck combined to score 41 points in leading the Huskies to a 73-65 win over the Fighting Sioux in front of 2,155 at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. The duo went a combined 15-for-23 from the field and 10-for-11 from the free throw line and helped the Huskies shoot a blistering 60 percent in the second half.
While the Sioux did an admirable job in holding Husky scoring leader Dreas to 14 points, including five in the first half, the 1-2 punch of Winnekins and Schneck proved to be too much to handle. Winnekins led all players with 23 points ? one shy of his career high ? while Schneck scored 10 of his 18 points in the second half.
UND never seemed to recover from a stretch late in the first half during which the Sioux offense stalled, at one point going more than seven minutes with scoring. After senior forward Jimmy Hoy (West Fargo, N.D.) hit a three-pointer with 10:37 left in the half, the Sioux had built themselves a 20-15 lead.
But the Huskies responded with a 10-0 that tilted the five-point margin in favor of St. Cloud State. UND countered with an O.J. Harrison (Jr., Danville, Ill.) dunk and back-to-back layups by Ervin Youmans (Sr., Hobbs, N.M.) to climb back on top by a point, but a Dreas jumper and a Winnekins runner in the final 58 seconds took the wind out of the UND sail and the Huskies went into halftime leading 29-26.
UND pulled even in the opening minutes of the season half, but a Winnekins scored five straight points to make it 36-31 with 16:36 to play, then the Huskies pulled away for good with an 8-0 run capped by a Schneck fast break bucket.
The Sioux were unable to pull within closer than four points the rest of the way.
Youmans led the Sioux with 21 points, his best output since before Christmas.
Sophomore guard Travis Bledsoe (Minneapolis, Minn.) added 12 points and senior forward Emmanuel Little (Chicago, Ill.) had 10 points for the Sioux, who committed 17 turnovers to the Huskies' 11.
UND, now 12-10 overall and 1-6 in the NCC, will return to action next Thursday at St. Cloud State.
###
