GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- Montana overcame a pair of late turnovers to preserve a 65-61 victory over North Dakota on Thursday in men's Big Sky basketball action at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.

Down two in the closing seconds, UND (8-15, 4-8 BSC) had chances to force overtime or win the game after the Grizzlies (13-10, 9-3 BSC) were whistled for back-to-back traveling violations, but the home team missed a runner on its first chance and then turned it back over after a collision in the lane. 

UM senior Jordan Gregory sealed the win with a pair of free throws and finished with 18 points. Junior Martin Breunig added 15 and a team-high eight rebounds for the Grizzlies.

Senior Jaron Nash led UND with 19 points and nine rebounds and Estan Tyler added 13 for the home team.

In a tightly contested game throughout, it was the Grizzlies' ability to turn 14 UND turnovers into 25 points that proved to be the difference. On the flip side, UND could only score four points off 12 Montana turnovers.

"The game came down to them scoring 25 points off of our turnovers," UND head coach Brian Jones said. "It is hard to get a win when you only get four points off their turnovers and they come up with 25."

UND held its largest lead of the game at 21-17 after a jumper by Nash at the 10:04 mark, but the Griz would answer with a 13-3 run over the ensuing five minutes to build a 30-24 deficit.

Senior Lenny Antwi would get that deficit down to just one with a 3-pointer at the 1:20 mark and that is how the stanza would end with the Griz leading 33-32.

The visitors would stretch their lead to nine in the opening four minutes of the second half as the Griz went 8-for-8 from the free throw line during that span.

UND would not go away though as Terrel de Rouen found Nash on an alley-oop at the midway point to square the game at 50-50.

The Griz would get the next five points, however, and never trail again despite UND making things interersting in the closing minute.

Breunig put his squad up 63-58 with just over 90 seconds on the clock, but Tyler answered with his third trey of the game to make it a two-point contest.

Next, the Grizzlies' Mike Weisner was called for a travel, but Tyler's runner down the right-side of the lane went just long on the next possession.

After more defensive pressure by UND, Riley Bradshaw was called for a travel near midcourt as he slipped to the floor.

Tyler once again drove the lane and collided with a Grizzly player, forcing a turnover. Gregory calmy sank the two free throws to push the lead to four and give Montana a season sweep of UND.

UND finished shooting 44 percent from the floor, while Montana connected on 48 percent of its field goals. The Grizzlies also held a slight 32-29 edge on the glass and both teams went 14-for-22 from the stripe.

UND returns to The Betty on Saturday to play Montana State in a Big Sky tilt at 2 p.m. CT. 

-- UND --