SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Utah's duo of Jakob Poeltl and Delon Wright combined for 47 points as the Utes pulled away late to deal North Dakota a 90-53 setback Friday at Huntsman Arena. It was the second game of the Utes' Thanksgiving Tournament for both teams, who each won on Wednesday.

Poeltl and Wright went 17-for-18 from the floor and Utah (4-1) shot 67 percent for the game, while holding UND (2-3) to 31 percent. Poeltl, who made all 10 of his field goal attempts, finished with a double-double, pulling down a game-high 12 rebounds.

Junior Terrel de Rouen led UND with 12 points, while Lenny Antwi added 10 to reach double figures off the bench for the second straight game.

Estan Tyler made it a 56-43 contest at the midway point of the second half, but the Utes closed with a flurry to put the game out of reach. Brandon Taylor hit a trio of 3-pointers in that closing stretch that saw the home team outscore UND 34-10.

“I thought we did a great job of climbing back in the game in the first half, but our last two possessions were not very smart and that allowed them to get their lead to 11 points,” UND head coach Brian Jones said. “I thought we had a good start to the second half, but we strayed away from what we wanted to do offensively and that hurt us tonight.”

After Quinton Hooker squared things at 2-2 Utah got nine straight from Poeltl over a four-minute stretch to gain control of the contest and build an 11-2 advantage. UND missed seven straight from the field during that span before De Rouen got a layup off a steal by Dustin Hobaugh.

De Rouen would make a pull-up jumper on the next possession and spark a 5-0 run to get back in the game at 11-7.

The Utes would answer that spurt by the visitors with a 10-0 run to pull ahead 21-7 before Hooker converted a 3-point play to end that skid with just over nine minutes to play in the half.

From there, UND worked its way back into the game by forcing the Utes into multiple turnovers and closing within five points on a 3-pointer by Antwi with just over three minutes to play.

Hobaugh would make it a 32-26 contest with a 3-pointer with 57 seconds remaining, but the Utes would get the final five points of the half to regain a double-digit lead and take a 37-26 advantage into halftime.

Jaron Nash, who was held scoreless in the first half, scored back-to-back baskets to the open the half and get UND within seven points, but the Utes had another spurt in them to regain control. This one was an 8-0 run over the next two minutes to give Utah its largest lead of the game to that point at 45-30.

UND would stay within striking distance thanks to de Rouen and Tyler, who had all nine of his points in the second half, but any time the Utes needed a basket, they would go to the 7-footer from Austria, as Poeltl did not miss and added five blocks on the defensive end.

UND will close out the Thanksgiving Tournament on Saturday against former Great West-foe Texas-Pan American at 5 p.m. CT.

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