GRAND FORKS, N.D. — Senior Patrick Mitchell (Des Moines, Iowa) scored a team-high 14 points and pulled down a game-high nine rebounds to lead the North Dakota men's basketball team to a 72-54 victory over Mayville State on Wednesday at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. Mitchell led a dominant effort on the glass for UND (6-8), who snapped a three-game losing streak.

Five different UND players grabbed at least seven rebounds in the contest as the home team outrebounded the Comets (7-7) 43-24. Twelve of those rebounds came on the offensive end as UND held a 14-2 advantage in second chance points.

Sophomores Aaron Anderson (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) and Troy Huff (Milwaukee, Wis.) added 13 points to push UND's home record to 6-1 on the season. Huff, who scored the first six points of the game for his squad, added eight rebounds and went 5-for-6 from the free throw line.

Anderson went 4-for-6 from the field, including a 2-for-3 effort from 3-point range to lead UND to a 50-percent shooting clip for the game (25-for-50), while the Comets connected on just 34.8 percent (16-for-46) of their field goal attempts. 

“Well, we won. I think that is the biggest thing,” UND head coach Brian Jones said. “I think we lose sight of that. Wins are hard to come by regardless of what level you are playing. We have had a tough stretch with a lot of road games and some tough losses, so getting some confidence back was huge.” 

UND built a 10-point advantage in the opening 11 minutes of the game after Anderson buried a pair of free throws, but the Comets would only let the home team extend that margin by one more point going into the break. 

Mitchell had the only three field goals for UND in the final 11 minutes of the half, and fortunately for UND, the Comets could not take advantage of a stretch that saw UND go just 2-for-10 from the floor after a 10-for-16 start. Mitchell's final field goal of the half with one minute, 48 seconds to play made it a 33-22 contest and that would be the score going into intermission.

The visitors got a boost from freshman Matt Bauduin, an East Grand Forks, Minn., native, who went 4-for-4 from the floor to lead all scorers with nine points in the first half. However, Bauduin's teammates went just 6-for-26 as the Comets shot just 33 percent from the floor.

The sluggish final stretch of the first half spiraled into the second half for UND as the visitors pulled to within five thanks to a trio of free throws by Gus Kueber. His freebies made it a 40-35 contest with just over 13 minutes to play, but Anderson drilled a timely 3-pointer to spark an 11-2 run that pushed the lead back into double figures.

Sophomore Jamal Webb (Buffalo, N.Y.), who did not attempt a shot in the first half, scored six second-half points to make sure UND's lead never digressed to single digits again. Freshman Josh Gentry (Indianapolis, Ind.) made all four of his free throw attempts and pushed the UND lead to 21 – its largest of the game – with two more swishes from the line late in the contest.

UND went 19-for-26 from the stripe, while the Comets made 6-of-7.

Kueber, Bauduin and reserve guard Cody Coauette all finished with 14 points to pace the Comets. Twelve of Kueber's points came in the second half. Bauduin and Coauette finished a combined 10-for-12 from the field, while the rest of the Comets went just 6-for-34.

UND will take to the road this weekend to face New Mexico on Saturday at The Pit in Albuquerque.  Tipoff is set for 2:30 p.m. CT.

– Go UND –