DAYTON, Ohio – Sophomore Conner Avants' only field goal of the game came on a putback at the buzzer as North Dakota stunned Cal-State Bakersfield 57-55 in both team's finale at the Men Against Breast Cancer Classic Sunday.

The Fighting Hawks (4-2) closed the game on a 16-0 run over the final 5:34 and finally found a win in Dayton after seeing all three games at Wright State decided by four points of less. The Roadrunners (4-2) seemed to have the game put away, but turned the ball over four times and missed all four of their field goal attempts in that costly closing stretch.

“I just like the resiliency that this group showed after having all three games here in Dayton come down to the final possession or two,” UND head coach Brian Jones said. “We finally got one to go our way. I think the difference was we didn't allow our offense to affect our energy on the defensive end in the second like we did in the first half.”

Senior Corey Baldwin started the game-deciding run with his third trey of the game and finished with a team-high 12 points to pace three Fighting Hawks in double figures. Sophomore Geno Crandall was instrumental as well down the stretch, scoring seven of his 11 points, including five straight in the closing two minutes.

Classmate Cortez Seales rounded out those double-figure scorers with 10 points, while senior Quinton Hooker added nine points on 3-of-4 shooting from beyond the arc.

The Roadrunners, who were an NCAA Tournament team a season ago, led by as many as 17 points after Dedrick Basile put his team ahead 40-23 with his only two-point basket of the game. The All-WAC first team performer was lethal from beyond the arc, connecting on 5-of-9 attempts to finish with a game-high 17 points.

Basile wouldn't score again after his final trey went through the net with 7:16 to play and CSUB would only get two more points the rest of the way.

CSUB took a 6-0 lead just over three minutes into the contest, but the Fighting Hawks would hold the Roadrunners scoreless over the next five-plus minutes to take a 9-6 advantage. Baldwin had seven of those points as he finished with a trio of of 3-pointers in the game.

The Roadrunners would respond, however, reeling off a 12-0 run to retake the lead at 18-9 and gain control of the contest. Seales would snap that spurt with a basket in the paint and freshman Billy Brown would swish a 3-pointer to pull UND within six at 24-18, but CSUB would close the half on a 7-2 run and match its largest lead at 11 thanks to Basile's third triple of the opening 20 minutes.

CSUB held UND to just a 26.7 percent clip from the field in the first half as the Fighting Hawks' starters went a combined 2-for-16. The Roadrunners also scored 16 points off of 13 first-half turnovers for UND.

UND took better care of the basketball after halftime, limiting its turnovers to just five and finished 10-for-22 from the field in the closing 20 minutes.

Both teams finished with 31 rebounds and UND played without its best rebounder for the final 17 minutes after Drick Bernstine fouled out.

Matt Smith finished with 16 points for the Roadrunners and Brent Wrapp added 12.  

UND now has a 10-day break before returning to the court on Wednesday, Dec. 7 at rival North Dakota State.

-- UND --