GRAND FORKS, N.D. — Forward Patrick Mitchell (Des Moines, Iowa) scored a season-high 22 points, connecting on his first six 3-pointers of the contest to lead North Dakota past South Dakota State 89-70 on Thursday at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. Mitchell scored just two points in a 38-point setback to the Jacks this past Saturday, but the team captain fueled a completely different effort by the Fighting Sioux this time around.

“This was a character win tonight,” UND head coach Brian Jones said. “I told them before the game, this could go one of two ways and they responded with an impressive performance.”

Sophomore Jamal Webb (Buffalo, N.Y.) added 17 points, including 13 in the first half that saw UND (5-5) take a 45-36 advantage on the strength of a season-high 64 percent shooting effort. UND finished with a 34-for-58 clip on the night (season-high 58.6 percent) as the team assisted on a season-high 18 of those field goals. 

Webb had five of those as did classmate Aaron Anderson (Brooklyn Park, Minn.), who along with sophomore Troy Huff (Milwaukee, Wis.) and junior Jordan Allard (Fargo, N.D.) added 12 points. For Allard, the 12 points were a season-high and just the third double-figure scoring game of his career.

With the win, UND snapped a three-game skid and ended a five-game winning streak for SDSU (9-4), who had also won the last four meetings with the Sioux. 

“I thought it started with our defense,” Jones said. “That was the message we sent to the team after Saturday's game.  We were dialed in on that end and it led to some easy baskets. We distributed the ball well, played unselfish and got a lot of contributions from several different guys.”

UND made its first six shots from the floor to race out to a 15-6 advantage. The Sioux, who fell behind 15-0 in Saturday's clash, continued to shoot the ball well throughout the half, while the Jacks struggled from the floor early on.

Those struggles ceased over the last five minutes as SDSU cut what once was an 18-point deficit down to nine at the break by making five consecutive 3-pointers to close the half. Wolters hit two of those from well beyond the arc to keep the visitors close.

Any momentum that the Jacks took into halftime was quickly erased by Huff and company as UND turned two turnovers into a quick four points and Mitchell buried his fourth trey of the game in the opening minute to push the lead to 52-36. Huff had a career-high four steals in the contest. 

Huff, Anderson and Webb were pests all night on the perimeter, combining for nine steals overall as UND's defense forced the visitors into 18 turnovers. The Jacks owned the glass in Brookings, holding a 24-board advantage, but SDSU held only a slight 31-27 edge in this contest.

SDSU could never get back within single digits after the 7-0 run by the Sioux to start the second half. Junior Nate Wolters, a preseason first-team All-Summit League pick, led all scorers with 24 points, while Chad White added 16 of SDSU's 20 bench points. 

UND takes to the road this weekend to face future Big Sky foe Sacramento State this Sunday at 7 p.m. CT.

The victory was the first win in four tries against Summit League foes this season for UND … Head coach Brian Jones evened his record to 1-1 against SDSU and 6-9 against Summit League opponents … Mitchell's six 3-pointers were a season high … Anderson's five assists matched his season-high … Junior Mitch Wilmer (Warroad, Minn.) pulled down a career-high five rebounds … UND had three dunks in the contest (Mitchell, Huff and Allard) … The 19-point victory over the Jacks was the largest since the 1990-91 team beat SDSU at home (Feb. 12, 1991) … UND made a season-high 75 percent of its free throw (12-for-16) … Sophomore Josh Schuler (Urbana, Ohio) scored eight first-half points off the bench, going 3-for-3 from the floor.