Men's Basketball 3/16/2016 10:50:00 PM UNDsports.com

UC Irvine clips UND in overtime

UC Irvine 89, UND 86 (OT)

Wednesday, Mar. 16, 2016 •
Grand Forks, N.D. •
Betty Engelstad Sioux Center
Attendance: 1,263

	1st	2nd	OT	Final
UC Irvine	37	41	11	89
North Dakota	41	37	8	86

Key Notes
• This was the second-straight OT loss for UND, who had played in only one extra-session game this season before falling to Weber State in overtime in the Big Sky Tournament semifinals.
• Crandall (UND) scored a career-high 22 points and dished out a career-high eight assists.
• Best (UCI) scored a team-high 22 points for the visiting Anteaters, who broke a school-record with their 26th win of the season.
• Bernstine (UND) led all players with 12 boards to register his 14th double-figure rebounding game of the season.
• UND is now 0-5 all-time in CollegeInsider.com Postseason play. This was the team's fifth appearances in the tournament in the last six seasons.

Statistical Comparison	UCI	UND
FG Percentage	52.2	42.2
3-Point FG Percentage	31.6	41.4
FT Percentage	61.1	69.0
Offensive Rebounds	10	9
Defensive Rebounds	33	27
Total Rebounds	43	36
Turnovers	11	12
Points Off Turnovers	11	9
Bench Points	26	32

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GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- UC Irvine escaped with an 89-86 overtime win over North Dakota in the opening round of the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament Wednesday.

In what was the first Division I postseason game played at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center, the Fighting Hawks and visiting Anteaters provided a classic that featured 14 ties and 15 lead changes.

Unfortunately for the home team, the last lead change was in favor of the Anteaters, who broke a school record with their 26th victory of the season. The Fighting Hawks' season ends with their second-consecutive overtime setback after falling to Weber State in last week's Big Sky Tournament semifinals. UND finished with a 17-16 record, which is a nine-win improvement from the 2014-15 campaign.

"That was a high-level college basketball game," UND head coach Brian Jones said. "Obviously disappointed because I thought it was a game we could have won, but this team never backed down against a quality UC Irvine team. We had some defensive miscues late that hurt us, but we had good looks there at the end of regulation and in overtime that just did not go in for us tonight."

Redshirt freshman Geno Crandall scored a career-high 22 points and kept the Fighting Hawks close throughout in a game where the Anteaters' largest lead was six and UND's was four.

Classmate Cortez Seales added 16 off the bench for the Fighting Hawks and put the home team up 78-75 with 1:43 to play in regulation, but UND would not score again, while the Anteaters pulled even after a layup by Alex Young and a freebie later in the final minute by the UCI senior, who had 19 points in the contest.

UND took a shot-clock violation on its next trip before Young missed a baseline jumper, giving the Fighting Hawks one last look in regulation, but a desperation jumper from Quinton Hooker was strong and caromed off the rim to force overtime. Hooker finished with 15 points and made all eight of his free throws.

In overtime, freshman Adam McDermott gave UND a quick 81-78 lead with a trifecta, but after the teams exchanged layups, Luke Nelson hit a deep 3-pointer to pull the Anteaters even at 83-83. Nelson finished with 18 points, including five in overtime.

Mike Best, who equaled Crandall's 22-point output for the Anteaters, threw down a go-ahead dunk with just over three minutes to play in the extra session and UC Irvine would never trail again despite giving UND multiple chances late to force double-overtime.

Seales made a free throw to cut the deficit to 89-86 with a 1:00 to play, but UND could not knock down a game-tying trey despite having three chances in the closing 60 seconds. This was the fifth-straight loss in the CIT for UND, who has made an appearance in the postseason event in five of the last six seasons.

UND finished the game going 12-for-29 from beyond the arc, while UCI made only 6-of-19 attempts.

Seales, who had connected on only three treys entering the game in 29 appearances, knocked down three in the game. His first in the closing seconds of the first half capped a 7-0 run by the Fighting Hawks that put the home team ahead 41-37 at the break.

Junior Corey Baldwin rounded out a quartet of double-figure scorers for UND with 10 points. UCI's Jaron Martin added 15 points off the bench to give the Anteaters four in double figures as well.

According to tournament officials, the Anteaters, who appeared the NCAA Tournament a year ago, will get a bye into the CIT quarterfinals since they entered the 26-team field with the highest RPI according to Kenpom.com.

-- UND --

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