GRAND FORKS, N.D. – The Fighting Sioux men's basketball team sent its two seniors out in a winning fashion on Monday night as UND routed Chicago State, 74-52, at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.
Freshman
Troy Huff (Milwaukee, Wis.) scored 17 of his team-high 21 points in the second half and junior
Patrick Mitchell (Des Moines, Iowa) added a season-high 20 to snap a three-game skid for the Sioux (14-14, 6-4 GWC) and give captains
Derek Benter (Crosby, N.D.) and
Chris Clausen (Adelaide, Australia) a victory in their home finale.
Freshman
Jamal Webb (Bufffalo, N.Y.) chipped in with 14 points, including a perfect 4-for-4 effort from deep, and had seven of UND's season-high 22 assists as the Sioux finished off a season sweep of the Cougars (6-24, 3-8 GWC). The win also was the sixth in league play for the Sioux, who had five last season during the inaugural GWC campaign.
“Our guys sent our two seniors out the way they deserved to be,” UND head coach
Brian Jones said. “Derek and Chris have been great leaders for us and really rallied this team around our 'team together' motto. It was fitting to get a lot of contributions from several different guys tonight and that is what we need going down the stretch.”
Huff and company shot 58.6 percent from the field in the second half after a sluggish start (29.4 percent in the first) to the contest. The Sioux did close the first half on a strong note, using an 11-0 run to build a double-digit lead before Christian Wall made a three-point play on the Cougars' final possession to make it a 29-20 contest at the break.
UND outscored the Cougars 45-32 in the second half behind the strength of a 6-for-10 effort from beyond the arc. Huff made his first non-dunk of the game, drilling a 3-pointer just over three minutes into the second stanza to give UND a 47-37 advantage. The Cougars, who have lost seven straight, could never get their deficit back to single digits after that.
Huff had three of UND's season-high five dunks in the contest. Mitchell converted an alley-oop from
Aaron Anderson (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) and sophomore
Jordan Allard (Fargo, N.D.) threw one down in the second half to energize the crowd of 1,731 and give Sioux fans a lot to look forward to next season.
The Sioux, who made just 10-of-34 field goals in the opening 20 minutes, did own the glass in the first half, holding a 26-17 advantage. Twelve of those allowed the Sioux to keep possessions alive as they scored 10 second-chance points in the first half.
Mitchell grabbed a game-high eight rebounds as that edge would grow to 43-31 by the final buzzer. Huff had seven boards, while Clausen finished with six.
Clausen hit a triple in the first half and Benter made a layup as both seniors got in the scoring column as the Sioux closed out an 11-3 record at home this season.
With their lead at just 18-17, Webb's third 3-pointer of the first half sparked that pivotal, closing run in the first half and Huff added a pair of dunks, one after a steal and the other on a putback off a Mitchell miss, during that spurt.
Wall led all scorers with 27 points in the contest, while the Cougars' leading scorer and rebounder Carl Montgomery only played the opening four minutes of the first after being saddled with two quick fouls.
Montgomery scored 11 second-half points to finish with 13, but the game was out of reach before he could establish himself.
The Sioux will close out their regular season in the Lone Star State later this week with Great West road games at Houston Baptist on Thursday and Texas-Pan American on Saturday.
