Men's Basketball 3/10/2010 11:41:00 PM Ryan Powell, UND Media Relations

Third-seeded Sioux fall in Great West quarterfinal matchup with NJIT

Orem, Utah – Sixth-seeded New Jersey Institute of Technology pulled off the second upset of the Great West Tournament quarterfinals on Wednesday, knocking off the third-seeded University of North Dakota men's basketball team 70-57 at the Utah Valley Events Center.

The loss brings a close to the season for the Fighting Sioux (8-23), while the Highlanders (10-20) advanced to the semifinals to face second-seeded Houston Baptist.

Senior Travis Bledsoe (Minneapolis, Minn.) led the Sioux in scoring with 19 points and concluded his UND career with 1,130 points (21st on the all-time list). Junior forward Derek Benter (Crosby, N.D.) added 10 points and four rebounds for the Sioux.

The Highlanders (10-20) used a big run midway through the second half to knock off the Sioux (8-23) for the second time in three tries this season. NJIT freshman Chris Flores led all scorers with 21 points and scored 15 of those in the decisive second half.

“I thought our defense really played well in the first half and kept us in the game,” UND head coach Brian Jones said. “But, we played sluggish offensively and just could not put a run together. I feel bad for our seniors, those guys fought hard and overcame a lot of adversity.”

NJIT opened the game on a 12-3 run as the Sioux struggled from the floor early on before senior Dustin Monsebroten (Newfolden, Minn.) sank a 3-pointer almost seven minutes into the contest.

After a Wilkerson jumper pushed the Highlanders' lead back to 14-6, Bledsoe and Benter combined for an 8-0 run to square the game at 14-14. Benter would give UND its first lead of the game at 22-20 on a pair of free throws with 3:57 in the half.

Junior Chris Clausen (Adelaide, Australia) and redshirt freshman Nick Haugen (Rockford, Minn.) gave the Sioux a 28-27 lead at the break after scoring the final four points of the half.

Haugen would score the first six points of the second half on a pair of treys and Benter put the Sioux ahead 42-39 with just under 12 minutes to play on a three-point play the old-fashioned way, but Flores and Wilkerson sparked a quick 7-0 run by the Highlanders.

Junior Chris Clausen (Adelaide, Australia) then pulled UND back to within one with his second trifecta of the half, but NJIT put the game away with a 16-5 run over the next six minutes.

The Sioux could never get their deficit back to within single digits as the Highlanders secured the game at the free-throw line, going 18-for-23 in the contest. Bledsoe led a 15-for-17 effort at the stripe for UND by connecting on all nine of his freebies.

The rebounding column was even at 35-35 with senior Travis Mertens (Devils Lake, N.D.) leading the Sioux with five boards. He closed out his UND career with four points and added two assists. Monsebroten also had two assists and that opening 3-pointer in his final game for the Sioux.

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