Colorado Springs, Colo. - The University of North Dakota men's basketball team, playing in its first NCAA postseason game of its short Division I history, lost to Air Force 77-67 in the first round of the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament. Redshirt freshman Josh Schuler (Urbana, Ohio) led the way with 21 points for UND (19-15), while freshman Troy Huff (Milwaukee, Wis.) added 20 in a loss that snapped a season-long, six-game winning streak.
"We had a chance to win the game," UND head coach Brian Jones said. "We played well, but our transition defense was not what it had been all season and that had a lot to do with fatigue, but give Air Force credit for taking advantage of that and getting some fast-break buckets. That was the difference in the first half and really for the entire game.”
Air Force built a 10-point lead at halftime thanks to a 67.9 percent shooting clip from the floor. The Falcons scored a season-high 46 points in those opening 20 minutes, including an 8-0 advantage in transition.
Schuler kept the Sioux in the game early as his back-to-back, 3-pointers made it a 19-17 contest with 12:25 to play, but the Falcons would score the next six points to build an eight-point advantage.
AFA would push its lead to 10 just moments later and maintain a double-digit lead throughout the rest of the half as Michael Lyons and Derrick Brooks each had 12 points to pace the hot-shooting Falcons in the opening stanza.
The Falcons cooled down enough in the second half to allow the Sioux whittle their deficit down to just four points after a Patrick Mitchell 3-pointer with just over 12 minutes to play, but an over five-minute field goal drought would ensue for UND. That drought permitted the Falcons to stretch their lead back out to 12 with an 8-0 run.
Huff and the Sioux made one more run when UND's all-time freshman scoring leader made a trio of 3-pointers in a two-minute stretch that pulled UND to within six, but that would be as close as the visitors would get in this one. Huff finished the campaign with 452 points and a team-leading average of 13.3 ppg.
The Sioux launched a season-high 39 3-pointers in the contest as Huff, Schuler and Mitchell combined to make 13, but the long-range game was not enough to push UND into the second round of the CIT. Schuler finished with five makes from deep for the third time this season.
“These guys have a taste now of postseason play and we took some giant steps forward as a program this season,” Jones added. “I could not be more proud of this group, but we have to remain hungry and continue to work hard because expectations have been set.”
UND was playing in the CIT just three days after winning the Great West Conference Tournament title in thrilling fashion on Saturday night. The Sioux won their three games in Orem, Utah by a total of four points, including the 77-76 double-overtime victory over South Dakota in the title game.
Air Force displayed its fresh legs with a 14-0 advantage in fast-break points. The Falcons last played on Thursday after falling to UNLV in the opening round of the Mountain West Conference Tournament.
– Go Sioux –
