Edinburg, Texas — The University of North Dakota men's basketball team capped its regular season with a 72-61 victory over Texas-Pan American on Saturday night at the UTPA Fieldhouse. The Sioux (16-14, 8-4 GWC) used a 12-2 run to close the first half and never gave up the lead after that to take a three-game winning streak into next week's Great West Conference Tournament.
Junior
Patrick Mitchell (Des Moines, Iowa) posted a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds and freshman
Jamal Webb (Buffalo, N.Y.) added nine points, 11 rebounds and seven assists. Freshman
Troy Huff (Milwaukee, Wis.) led the Sioux in scoring with 13 points.
“These were two big wins for us because it guaranteed that we will finish with a winning season,” UND head coach
Brian Jones said. “It's never easy to win on the road, but our guys found a way here in Texas to get that done twice.”
Trailing 28-23, the Sioux used that closing run to take a 35-30 advantage at halftime. Huff had nine of his points in the first half as UND shot 50 percent from the floor (15-for-30).
The UND bench also came up big in the first outscoring UTPA's 18-6 and finished the game with a 30-20 edge in that department. Senior
Derek Benter (Crosby, N.D.) had eight and classmate
Chris Clausen (Adelaide, Australia) added seven.
Mitchell and Webb helped the Sioux hold a 41-40 edge on the glass. It was the second straight game Webb pulled down 11 boards.
The Sioux will be the No. 3 seed at the upcoming Great West Conference Tournament in Orem, Utah and have a rematch with the Broncs (6-24, 2-10 GWC), who will be the No. 6 seed, at 6 p.m. CT on Thursday.
– Go Sioux –
