GRAND FORKS, N.D. – Senior Patrick Mitchell (Des Moines, Iowa) equaled his season high with six 3-pointers and sophomore Troy Huff (Milwaukee, Wis.) added a double-double to lead North Dakota past Chicago State 71-61 in Great West Conference action Saturday at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. 

Mitchell finished with a team-high 18 points, connecting on a trio of 3-pointers in each half, while Huff scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half to help UND even its record at 10-10 and improve to 2-1 in GWC play. The visiting Cougars fell to 1-3 in league play and 2-19 overall. It was the seventh straight home win for UND, who is now 10-1 in front of its fans this season.

“That was another great win for us and gives us some momentum before heading out on the road again,” UND head coach Brian Jones said. “We won that game with our defense.  That was not our best finish of the season and we relaxed a little there late, but I am happy to get the win. You have to take care of your home court in this league and we did that this weekend.”

Sophomore Brandon Brekke (East Grand Forks, Minn.) continued his torrid shooting from the floor, making seven of his nine field goals to finish with 16 points. It was the fifth straight double-figure scoring game for Brekke, who is 29-for-37 from the field during that stretch.

 

Classmate Jamal Webb (Buffalo, N.Y.) rounded out a quartet of double-figure scorers for the home team with 10 points. Huff's double-double was his second of the season as eight of his 10 rebounds also came in the second half. He and Mitchell, who added eight boards, helped UND hold a 42-38 edge in that category.

Brekke scored five of his points during an 8-0 run to start the game that would turn out to be pivotal as UND could never put the pesky Cougars away. Junior Mitch Wilmer's (Warroad, Minn.) jumper in the paint gave UND its largest lead of the half with just over five minutes to play, but CSU point guard Ardarius Simmons had five points down the stretch to keep his club within single digits at the break.

UND's lead was only 31-22 despite holding Chicago State to just 22 field goal attempts and forcing 13 turnovers. 

The Cougars only had four turnovers in the second half and cut their deficit to seven points following a 3-pointer by Lee Fisher with just over 12 minutes to play to force Jones to call a timeout. His team regrouped and came out with five quick points as Brekke made a layup and Mitchell buried a 3-pointer to quickly push the lead back to double digits.

Fisher finished with a game-high 20 points, but his team fell behind by as many as 17 thanks to a pair of timely 3-pointers by the home team. A late run by the Cougars trimmed the deficit to single digits again, but UND finished off the GWC weekend sweep with a late free throw to secure the 10-point win.

Simmons added 18 points for the Cougars as he and Fisher combined for 28 of the team's 39 second-half points.

Huff added a game-high five assists to go with his double-double, while Webb, Brekke and Mitchell all added a trio of blocks in the contest. The nine blocks by UND were a season-high. 

UND takes to the road for its next six contests, beginning Thursday with a league contest at Houston Baptist.  Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. from Houston.

– UND –