GRAND FORKS, N.D. – In the wake of North Dakota's blowout win over NCAA Division III Minnesota Morris on Saturday, head coach Brian Jones wanted to make sure he still had his team's attention heading into tonight's tilt against NAIA foe Concordia University.
 
Jones delivered his message directly to seniors Conner Avants and Cortez Seales and they responded.
 
Avants scored a game-high 22 points and Seales added 15 as the Fighting Hawks picked up a tougher-than-the-score would indicate 89-56 win over the Bulldogs out of Nebraska. UND improved to 4-1 with the win.
 
Avants and Seales were two of four Fighting Hawks to score in double figures, including sophomore Filip Rebraca's first career double-double, ensuring that North Dakota would avoid a mental letdown.
 
"I talked to them before the game, yesterday in practice, about them setting the tone," said Jones. "When you come off such a lopsided victory, and probably against another non-Division I (opponent), your mind will tend to float a little bit and think it's just going to happen for you. I wanted to make sure they led by example and by their words."
 
They did just that. Avants filled the box score, augmenting his 22 points (9-12 from the field) with seven rebounds, four assists, two steals and one block. He and Seales scored a combined 28 of their 37 points in a first half to help the Fighting Hawks stave off a pesky Concordia squad.
 
"We had to guard for long possessions and show some discipline. Guys had to play some longer stretches of minutes than they've probably been comfortable playing," said Jones. "I give Concordia a lot of credit because they really came in and ran their system and made us defend and really played hard and competed. We had to really dial in. That's good for this team."
 
Avants and Seales hardly did it alone, though. Rebraca scored 12 points and led all players with 12 rebounds. Guard Billy Brown hit six of seven from the floor and finished with 14 points. In all, 11 of the 13 players who entered the game were able to reach the scoresheet.
 
Jones said it all goes back to the start from his senior leaders.
 
"I thought they came out of the gate and were really strong for us in the first half, both offensive and defensively, and it allowed some other guys to come in and really contribute," said Jones.
 
The Bulldogs were able to hang with single-digits for most of the first half, keeping it as close as 21-20 UND midway through the opening period. The Hawks found some breathing room in the final three minutes, keyed by five points down the stretch by Rebaca and a 3-pointer by Aanen Moody with six seconds left before halftime. That sent the Hawks into the locker room leading 49-32.
 
With a little bit of distance between the two teams, UND was able to rotate constantly throughout the second half and ten players scored points for UND during the final 20 minutes.
 
"We battled with them," said Rebraca of Concordia. "We sat down on defense and tried to score off of our defense. We also went to our seniors on offense and they passed the torch to us later on.
 
He added of the seniors: "We have a lot of new guys and we just follow their lead."
UND will take to the road for a pair of tilts, heading to Utah Valley on Nov. 24 and Montana State on Nov. 27.
 
Notes: Brevin Sloup scored a team-high 13 points for Concordia … UND shot 57 percent from the field compared to just 34 percent for the Bulldogs … Concordia attempted a whopping 30 three-points, knocking down 10 of them. UND was 5-17 (29.4 percent) from long range… The Hawks held a 45-28 rebounding advantage … Attendance was 1,374.