GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- Junior Quinton Hooker capped a career-night with two clutch free throws, helping seal an 80-77 victory for North Dakota over Portland State in men's Big Sky basketball action on Thursday at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. 

With those two free throws, Hooker broke UND's Division I single-game scoring record with a career-high 38 points after surpassing the 1,000-point mark for his career earlier in the second half.

Hooker's heroics helped UND (14-12, 9-6 BSC) to its second-straight win and fourth-straight home triumph to stay in the hunt for a first-round bye at the Big Sky Conference Tournament.

"I thought where our guys took a positive step was in the final three minutes," UND head coach Brian Jones said. "We were up by two and came up with some key stops and had quality offensive possessions to get us this win."

Freshman Geno Crandall added 13 points and five assists, plus made some key baskets in the closing stretch to erase UND's two-game losing skid to the Vikings.

Sophomore Drick Bernstine and freshman Conner Avants added 10 points to give UND four double-figure scorers.

Senior transfer Cameron Forte was the Vikings' main cog again as he finished with 24 points and 13 rebounds. PSU also got 18 points off the bench from forward De'Sean Parsons.

Those two along with guard Zach Gengler were the key reasons Portland State (9-17, 5-10 BSC) got out to a hot start. Gengler hit a triple as the Vikings jumped out to a 14-8 lead in the opening six minutes.

PSU built its lead to as large as 10 midway through the first half, while the Fighting Hawks struggled from the field by hitting only 5-of-19 in the first nine minutes.

Hooker willed UND back into the game though as the Brooklyn Park, Minn., native had 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting by the 14-minute mark to get the home team back within a point. 

Just two mintues later, Hooker added a highlight-reel assist to Geno Crandall that ignited the crowd and gave his team a three-point lead.

"Quinton was outstanding again tonight," Jones added. "He is playing at such a high level right now and I keep pushing him to bring his teammates along with him. I think you saw that tonight." 

Crandall returned the favor with a slick pass to Hooker to give UND it's largest lead of the opening half at five with just under three minutes to play. 

Corey Baldwin hit a 3-point shot from the corner to give UND a 38-35 lead heading into the halftime break.

The second half started much better for UND as Bernstine made back-to-back baskets, which were followed by a Carson Shanks' layup that gave the Fighting Hawks a 46-39 lead early in the second half. 

After UND built its own 10-point advantage, Portland State responded quickly with a pair of triples to spark an 8-0 run and cut the UND lead down to 49-47. The game was a back-and-forth affair from there.

Hooker eclipsed the milestone-point plateau with a step-back jumper as he became only the 35th UND player and 10th junior to accomplish the feat. He finished the game 15-for-20 from the field and 5-for-5 from the charity stripe. 

The Vikings wouldn't go away despite Hooker's efforts as the visitors regained the lead at 63-62 on an acrobtic layup by Parsons. It was the first advantage for PSU since the five-minute mark of the first half.

The two teams continued to trade baskets down the stretch as the Vikings held a 68-66 lead with just 3:54 to play in the game. 

With under three minutes to play, a pair of UND freshmen took charge as Crandall and Adam McDermott struck for eight-consecutive points to give the Fighting Hawks a 74-70 lead.

UND was able to use clutch free throw shooting down the stretch as Bernstine hit a pair with under 30 seconds to play to push the lead to 78-75. After Forte made a pair of free throws for the Vikings, Hooker was held before UND to could get the ball in and the free-throw line is where he would break the UND DI scoring mark.

He sank both for his 37th and 38th points of the night as his point total broke the record previously held by Troy Huff when he dropped 37 on Wisconsin in 2013. Those freebies gave UND a 80-77 lead with 9.4 to play. Portland State's desperation shot at the buzzer fell short to give UND the three-point win.  

UND closes out its home schedule on Saturday as seniors Shane Benton and Dustin Hobaugh will be honored in a pre-game ceremony. Tip-off with Sacramento State is set for 2:05 p.m. CT.

-UND-