POCATELLO, Idaho – North Dakota made a bunch of 3-pointers early and enough free throws late to pick up a key road win over Idaho State 80-75 in Big Sky play on Saturday at Holt Arena. It was the second straight season that UND (10-12, 7-5 BSC) swept the Bengals (8-13, 5-7 BSC) as the Green and White end up with a four-game split on this latest road swing.
Senior Troy Huff led four UND double figure scorers with 22 points and 18 of those came in the first half as UND jumped out a 46-37 lead at the break. Huff made his first four 3-point attempts of the game in those opening 20 minutes that saw the visitors lead by as many as 14.
Senior Cole Stefan and junior Lenny Antwi also hit key 3-pointers early on as UND nailed 8-of-16 from beyond the arc in the first half.
Stefan finished with 11 points and hit a floater in the lane midway through the second half that what would prove to give the visitors the lead for good after the Bengals had grabbed their first advantage of the game.
Stefan would later hit the only 3-pointer of the second half that stretched UND's lead back to eight at 65-57 with just over four minutes to play. Stefan's corner three capped a decisive 9-3 run by UND.
“Our bench was huge both in the first half and second half,” UND head coach Brian Jones said. “I think that was the difference in the game. Lenny (Antwi) came up big for us in the first half and Cole made some big time plays after the break.”
UND overcame a dominate effort by Idaho State on the glass that was spearheaded by junior Jeff Solarin, who finished with 23 points and a career-high 20 rebounds. The Bengals had 27 second-chance points that helped them make their come back, but UND shot a season-high 59 percent from the floor (27-for-46) to seal their third Big Sky road win of the season.
UND made six straight three's during one stretch of the first half with five of those coming during a two-minute stretch that saw their lead grow from 12-8 to 29-16. That would allow UND to build a comfortable lead at the break, but the Bengals showed why they are one of the most improved teams in the Big Sky this season.
Huff made four of those trifectas and went 5-for-7 from the floor and UND shot 59 percent in the opening 20 minutes. The Bengals kept their deficit to single digits at the break due to Solarin's work on the glass.
He had 10 rebounds of his own and added 14 points. Tomas Sanchez added 17 points and Chris Hansen added 13 for the Bengals.
Alonzo Traylor added 11 points for UND as the bench once again came up big with a 39-10 advantage. Senior Aaron Anderson added 10 points to round out the double-figure scoring quartet. He hits three free throws late to help ice the win.
UND will return home for a pair of Big Sky games next week starting Thursday with a contest against Montana State at 7 p.m.
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