GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- Freshman Geno Crandall threw down a dunk in the closing seconds to seal a 78-71 victory for North Dakota over Weber State in Big Sky men's basketball action Saturday.
Crandall's slam capped a career-high 21-point outing for UND's point guard as the Fighting Hawks (12-10, 7-4 BSC) beat the Wildcats (16-7, 8-2 BSC) for the first time in nine tries.
Crandall led five UND players in double figures and went 6-for-6 from the foul line in the closing stretch to help keep the Wildcats at bay.
"That was a great college basketball game and I thought our energy early is really what set the tone for the game and our crowd deserves a lot of credit for that," UND head coach Brian Jones said. "I thought we were really dialed in on the defensive end and that carried over with great ball movement on the offensive end."
Weber State's Jeremy Senglin scored a game-high 28 points on 7-of-11 from beyond the arc and banked in a 25-footer with just over a minute to play, cutting the deficit to 68-64. That
Crandall and Quinton Hooker went 10-for-12 from the free throw line after that to seal the victory. Hooker finished with 18 points and extended his streak of double-figure scoring games to 27 in a row.
"I'd put that atmosphere up with one of the best I've seen at The Betty, right up there with our North Dakota State games," Hooker said. "It is always great to have the crowd behind you and we really needed their support today. I'm glad we could give them a win."
UND held a 42-34 lead at the half thanks to a strong bench performance by Adam McDermott and Conner Avants. Those two combined for 19 first-half points and sparked an 11-0 run that gave the Fighting Hawks their first double-digit lead of the game.
McDermott, who went 3-for-6 from deep, finished with 11 points, while Avants had 12 and has scored double figures in five of the last six games.
The Fighting Hawks held Joel Bolomboy to 13 points and eight rebounds as he did not finish with a double-double for just the third time in 23 games this season.
Sophomore Drick Bernstine, who rounded out UND's double-digit scorers, helped UND hold a 32-30 edge on the glass with a game-high nine rebounds. Bernstine added 12 points and made all four of his free throws as UND finished 21-for-24 from the charity stripe.
Senglin's hot shooting helped Weber State shoot 50 percent from the field, but the remaininder of the Wildcats went just 4-for-16 from beyond the arc.
UND will return to the road for a pair of Big Sky games next week. That two-game swing starts Thursday at Eastern Washington with an 8:05 p.m. CT tip-off.
-- UND --
