GRAND FORKS, N.D. - The University of North Dakota men's basketball team buried a season high 14 3-pointers en route to posting a 74-60 victory over Chicago State in Great West Conference action on Saturday. It was the first game back on its true home court for North Dakota (6-17, 3-3 GWC) in 45 days as the Fighting Sioux handed Chicago State (7-20, 2-7 GWC) its 16th straight loss on the road this season.
Sophomore Patrick Mitchell (Des Moines, Iowa) equaled his career high with 17 points to pace the Sioux, while senior Travis Bledsoe (Minneapolis, Minn.) added 16 points on a 4-of-5 shooting from beyond the arc. UND ended the contest 14-for-30 from deep for 46.7 percent.
Redshirt freshman Jordan Allard (Fargo, N.D.) tallied a career-high nine points, added six rebounds, four assists and two blocks to put together his best all-around game at the college level.
“I thought we came out with great focus today,” UND head coach Brian Jones said. “Our guys played the way we wanted to from the start and we shot the ball really well. I knew a game like this would come and I kept telling our guys that.”
Mitchell struck for a trio of 3-pointers in the first half and a 3-pointer by Bledsoe capped a 12-2 run midway through the opening 20 minutes to create a little separation that would lead to a 39-31 lead at the break.
The Cougars opened the second half with a 7-2 run to cut their deficit to 41-38 with just over 17 minutes to play, but that would be as close as the visitors would get. Back-to-back lay ups by Mitchell and senior Dustin Monsebroten (Newfolden, Minn.) quickly pushed the lead back to seven.
A 14-2 run by the Fighting Sioux would see their lead grow to 62-45 after redshirt freshman Nick Haugen (Rockford, Minn.) drilled a pair of free throws with just over eight minutes left in the game. Bledsoe knocked down his fourth 3-pointer of the game during that run and Allard added four points, including a steal and one-handed dunk to spark the spurt.
Senior Travis Mertens (Devils Lake, N.D.) rounded a trio of Sioux in double figures with 10 points as he also added five rebounds and equaled his career-high with five assists. Allard's six-rebound effort led to an overall 34-23 advantage by the Sioux on the glass.
Junior Christian Wall also had 17 points to lead the visitors in scoring. Classmate Carl Montgomery added 15 points for the Cougars, who were held to 41.2 percent shooting from the floor.
The Sioux will enjoy the confines of home again twice next week with a non-conference tilt against SIU-Edwardsville on Thursday at 7 p.m. and a Great West matchup with Utah Valley on Saturday at 3 p.m.
