RENO, Nev. – No. 5 seed North Dakota blitzed No. 4 Idaho State and registered the largest win the 42-year history of the Big Sky Tournament with an 83-49 victory in Thursday's second quarterfinal at the Reno Events Center. The win was the eighth straight in the series for UND, who improved to 17-14 on the season, while the Bengals fall to 16-15.
Freshman Adam McDermott led six Fighting Hawks in double figures with 16 as UND built a 30-point cushion in the first half and limited the Bengals to a 26.8 percent clip from the field for the game.
Sophomore Drick Bernstine added 14 points and a tournament single-game record with 21 rebounds to lead a 53-30 edge on the glass for UND (17-14, 11-7 BSC), who will play top-seeded Weber State in Friday's first semifinal. The double-double was the ninth of the season for the power forward.
“Honestly, I thought we won the game at 8:30 this morning during our shootaround,” UND head coach Brian Jones said. “We got to the gym and the guys were dialed in. We made a lot of shots and the energy was great and that carried over into the game.”
Geno Crandall added 12 points and two steals despite fouling out with nearly 10 minutes to play in the contest. The redshirt freshman scored five early points as UND answered a 3-pointer by Idaho State's Ethan Telfair with an 8-0 run and never trailed again. Telfair led the Bengals with 17 points, but the Big Sky Newcomer of the Year managed to shoot just 5-for-20 from the field.
UND also got 13 points from Quinton Hooker and 10 each from Corey Baldwin and Cortez Seales.
“We had six guys in double figures and that shows you our unselfishness and defensively, I thought we did a great job in getting to our gaps and following our scouting report.”
McDermott got going early, capping another 8-0 run for the Fighting Hawks after converting the rare 4-point play following his second 3-pointer of the game. That pushed UND's lead to double figures at 18-7.
The Bengals would make it 18-9 on a layup by Ben Wilson, but the Bengals would go just over nine minutes without a field goal after that, allowing UND to stretch its lead to 40-10.
Hooker and Seales combined for the final three baskets of the opening half, giving UND a 46-17 lead at the break. The 17 points were the fewest allowed by UND in a half this season.
Idaho State showed a little life to start the second half, opening it on an 18-6 run that cut the deficit inside 20 at 52-35, but that would be as close as the Bengals would get in this one.
McDermott, who had a career-high 28 points in a home win over Idaho State during the regular season, knocked home a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession and finished the game 5-for-8 from deep.
UND finished the game 9-for-19 from beyond the arc, while the Bengals made only six of 28 from deep. The 55 total rebounds were one shy of the Big Sky Tournament single-game record as Baldwin and Hooker also finished with seven a piece.
The top-seeded Wildcats advanced to the semifinals with a 78-74 victory over eighth-seeded Portland State in Thursday's first quarterfinal. Friday's first semifinal between Weber State and UND is slated for 7:35 p.m. CT.
More Notes: North Dakota improved to 9-1 all-time against Idaho State and won for the eighth-straight time in the series ... The victory also improved UND to 6-2 all-time in Big Sky Tournament play ... This is the third-straight appearance where UND has advanced to at least the semifinal-round ... The 21 rebounds by sophomore Drick Bernstine were three more than the previous Big Sky Tournament single-game record of 18 held by three different players ... Besides the career-high and UND Division I single-game record work on the glass, Bernstine also added 14 points to post his ninth double-double of the season ... Adam McDermott scored a team-high 16 points and went 5-for-8 from beyond the arc ... He finished three games against the Bengals this season going 14-for-23 (61 percent) ... The Fighting Hawks had six players reach double figures for the third time this season (at NAU; Jan. 21) and just the fifth since moving to the Division I level (2008-09). -- UND --
