Grand Forks, N.D. — The Fighting Sioux men's basketball team pulled away late thanks to clutch free-throw shooting to post an 83-73 victory over Houston Baptist in Great West action on Saturday at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.
Freshman Aaron Anderson (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) scored 12 of his team-high 16 points at the free throw line and classmates Josh Schuler (Urbana, Ohio) and Brandon Brekke (East Grand Forks, Minn.) each added 15 points as that trio helped the Sioux erase a three-point deficit with just over six minutes to play.
Brekke put the Sioux back in the lead for good at 70-69 with a jumper in the paint at the 4:55 mark and the combination of Anderson and Schuler scored the final 13 points to help secure UND's first win over the Huskies in league action.
UND (10-10, 3-1 GWC) finished off its six-game homestand with a 5-1 record and improved to 3-1 in Great West play with the 10-point win over Houston Baptist (2-18, 1-4 GWC). The Huskies defeated the Sioux twice last season by that same margin.
“We grinded out that victory today,” UND head coach Brian Jones said. “Our guys found a way to win and that was with strong defense and poise at the foul line down the stretch.”
Great West Preseason Player of the Year Andrew Gonzalez scored one more than his league-leading average of 22 ppg, but the HBU senior made only 6 of 18 shots from the floor. The Sioux held the Huskies to just a 42.4 percent clip from the field, while they shot 51.1 percent for the game.
The teams exchanged big runs in the first half as the Huskies used a 17-4 spurt to build their largest lead of the game at 26-18 with 7:59 to play, but UND answered with an 18-4 run to regain the lead and take a 41-35 advantage at the break.
Senior Chris Clausen (Adelaide, Australia) and Schuler hit back-to-back 3-pointers to spark the run and Brekke finished it off with another jumper in the paint.
The teams traded the lead six times in the second half before Brekke finally gave the Sioux the advantage back with his fifth and final field goal of the game (eight attempts).
After Brekke's bucket, HBU would make only one field goal and two free throws in the final six minutes as UND closed out the game on a 17-5 run. Thirteen of those points came at the foul stripe where Anderson and Schuler combined to go 13 of 16 in the closing four minutes.
Junior Patrick Mitchell (Des Moines, Iowa) added 11 points for the Sioux and grabbed a game-high eight rebounds. HBU held a 33-30 advantage on the glass, but turned the ball over 17 times compared to just 10 for the Sioux.
Clausen added a season-high 10 points for UND as he connected on three of his field goals, including a pair of 3-pointers.
The Sioux will return to the road for the first time since early January next Saturday at South Dakota. The Sioux and the Coyotes will play after the women's game between the two teams, which is slated to start at 6 p.m.
– Go Sioux –
