GRAND FORKS, N.D. — If the 45 minutes of basketball at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center on Wednesday night were a preview of what is to come next season and beyond, Fighting Sioux fans have a lot to look forward to as North Dakota transitions to the Big Sky Conference.

Sophomore Aaron Anderson (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) scored a career-high 20 points and four of his classmates joined him in double figures as UND (3-1) knocked off Montana (3-2) 88-81 in overtime at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. 

East Grand Forks native Brandon Brekke posted his first double-double of the season in the victory, scoring 15 points and pulling down 11 rebounds for the Sioux, who moved to 2-0 against their future conference foes on the season and beat the Griz for the first time since 1964.

The extra period was probably fitting in a contest that featured an 11-point lead for the Sioux at the half, a five-point deficit overcome by the home team in the final five minutes and a missed free throw by Anderson with two seconds left that would have sealed the win in regulation. The two teams also combined for 57 fouls and 87 free throws.

Montana had won the two previous matchups since the series resumed after a 44-year drought.

“It's a measuring stick for us and a big step forward,” UND head coach Brian Jones said. “I think it's probably a marquee win because, one, it (was) against a future opponent in the Big Sky and, two, winning in front of our home crowd – just showing them we have come a long way since our first couple of years.”

Anderson's potential game-winning free throw rimmed out after he sank the first to tie the score at 71-71 after he was fouled on a driving layup with two ticks left on the clock. 

This all came after Anderson's 3-pointer from the top of the key put his squad ahead 70-69 with 19 seconds left, but Montana guard Kareem Jamar quickly raced to the other end of the floor to put the visitors back in the lead with a layup.

It was a back-and-forth final five minutes of regulation that was only made interesting by a trio of Montana guards that willed their teams back from a 40-29 deficit at halftime. Junior Will Cherry scored 24 of his game-high 28 points after the break and his classmate Jamar added 20 of his 24 in the second half and overtime period.

But, it was little used freshman Keron DeShields that made a pair of huge 3-pointers, including one with four minutes, 50 seconds to play that gave Montana a 64-59 edge. DeShields had logged only seven minutes in Montana's first four games and scored only two points.

The home had an answer though as sophomores Jamal Webb (Buffalo, N.Y.) and Troy Huff (Milwaukee, Wis) connected on back-to-back treys to put UND ahead 65-64 with just over two minutes to play. That duo finished with 15 points a piece.

 

“As we know from our team last year, that is the will of our guys,” Jones said of his team's resiliency. “Sometimes I think that is youth and being fearless. They just stayed the course.” 

Cherry and Webb would trade jumpers in the final minute before the ultra-quick junior for the visitors converted a 3-point play the old-fashioned way to put his team ahead 69-67, setting up Anderson's go-ahead trey.  

“Our culture is very strong right now and I am excited about it,” Jones added. “The big thing is our guys have stayed humble and stayed hungry. They understand (nights like this) do not come easy and a lot of hard work goes into it.”

The Sioux seemingly put the game away with a 10-0 spurt to start the overtime, but poor free-throw shooting (11-for-18 in overtime) allowed the visitors to make things dicey down the stretch, pulling within five points with 49 seconds left.

Anderson would make one free throw and sophomore Josh Schuler (Urbana, Ohio), who went 10-for-11 from the line and finished with 12 points, found a wide open Huff for a breakaway dunk to put the game back out of reach.

Brekke went 5-for-5 from the field in the game as UND built its 11-point advantage at the break thanks to a 63.2 percent shooing effort from the floor. Montana struggled early, making only 9-of-30 field goal attempts (30 percent) in the first half.

– Go Sioux –