UND held a 10-point lead at halftime for the second-straight meeting with the Bison only this time the result was different. The Fighting Hawks preserved that lead and avenged the 69-67 loss to NDSU last season at the Betty Englestad Sioux Center.

“I think we learned a lot from last year's matchup and that shows a lot of growth from our team,” UND head coach Brian Jones said. “We were up 10 at the half again and this time we stayed the course for 40 minutes and won this game on the defensive end.”

Senior Corey Baldwin came up big in the second half for the visitors as he scored all of his 13 points after the Bison and their big man Dexter Werner threatened to make things interesting. Werner finished with a career-high 30 points and 13 rebounds and his play helped trim the deficit down to five at 39-34 six minutes into the final stanza.

That would be as close as the home team would get though as Crandall would answer with a key 3-pointer to put UND back up by eight. After Tyson Ward's tip-in midway through the second half made it a 45-38 contest, Baldwin capped a game-clinching, 7-0 run with his first of three second-half triples.

The Fighting Hawks would push their advantage to as many as 22 and register their largest win in Fargo since an 84-62 win in 1999.

Werner was a force down low going 12-for-13 from the field, but the rest of his Bison teammates combined to go 12-for-45 from the field, including a 1-for-20 effort from beyond the arc.

Junior Drick Bernstine finished with 12 points after being held scoreless last season against NDSU. He went 5-for-6 from the field and added six rebounds. UND went 27-for-59 overall from the field and had its best showing from the foul line this season after knocking down 14-of-15 attempts.

NDSU's leading scorer Paul Miller, who came in averaging a team-high 12.4 ppg, went scoreless for the Bison.

UND's leading scorer Quinton Hooker was limited to four points, but dished out a season-high nine assists. He assisted on five of UND's first 12 field goals helping the Fighting Hawks build a 33-23 lead at the break.

Crandall asserted himself early in the first half and had 15 points before the break, while Werner combatted that effort with 12 of his own to keep the Bison within striking distance.

A two-handed dunk by Carson Shanks put UND up 20-9 with 11:48 to go and forced NDSU to call a timeout. The Fighting Hawks' lead would hover around double digits the rest of the opening half.

Shanks finished with eight points, while sophomore Conner Avants added nine on a 4-for-4 effort from the field.

UND will remain on the road for a Saturday tilt at Northern Iowa. Tip-off against the Panthers is set for 7 p.m. and that game will be streamed on ESPN3.com.

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