GRAND FORKS, N.D. – North Dakota head coach Brian Jones and the rest of his basketball team knew the importance placed on Saturday night's showdown against Oral Roberts, and the Fighting Hawks answered with authority in an 85-73 victory over the Golden Eagles from the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.
 
UND (10-16, 4-9 Summit League) controlled the game nearly wire-to-wire, halting a three-game losing streak and giving the Fighting Hawks a big win in The Summit League standings.
 
Marlon Stewart was dynamic for the Fighting Hawks on the offensive side once again, leading all scorers with 23 points on 6-of-13 shooting. The junior connected on nine of his 13 attempts from the charity stripe while also dishing out three assists in a team-high 38 minutes of action.
 
Aanen Moody provided a much-needed spark off the bench, helping UND snap a six-game streak of 20-or-fewer points from its reserves with 21 points on a career-high seven made threes. The redshirt freshman took all 11 attempts from beyond the arc for his fourth 20+ point game of the season.
 
Cortez Seales was the third Fighting Hawk to cross the 20-point plateau, reaching double figures for the 20th time in 24 contests this season. The senior hit a game-high eight shots from the field and matched the overall best five assists in the win. Saturday marks the first time since Jan. 12, 2017 at Montana State that three-or-more players have each scored 20+ points.
 
Five Oral Roberts (10-19, 6-8 Summit League) players reached double figures in the loss, led by Kevin Obanor's 16-point, 10-rebound night. The freshman was the lone player to record 10-or-more rebounds, as the Golden Eagles claimed the battle on the boards, 38-31.
 
After struggling from the field in the first half, North Dakota started to figure out the zone defense by ORU as the second half began. The Fighting Hawks shot at a .593 clip (16-of-27) over the final 20 minutes to outscore the Golden Eagles by 11 in the frame.
 
It was a back-and-forth affair for much of the first half as the lead exchanged hands seven times through the opening 17 minutes. The tide turned towards the hosts in the final moments of the stanza when Stewart hit a triple and the defense forced back-to-back misses to close out the frame to give the Hawks a 34-33 advantage heading into the locker room.
 
The momentum carried into the second half as UND opened the frame with a 7-1 spurt to quickly turn its one-point halftime lead into a 41-35 advantage just 2:16 into the period. Seales opened the half with back-to-back buckets on great isolation takes to the hoop before Filip Rebraca connected on a shot from the charity stripe to boost the Hawks to their advantage.
 
UND continued the spurt as it was Stewart's turn to take over. The junior scored six straight points for the hosts before Seales drained another jumper to extend the lead to nine, 49-40, at the five minute mark of the second half.
 
After the lead extended into double digits, Moody began a furious attack from distance with three triples over a two-minute span as the advantage grew to a game-high 17 for UND. Oral Roberts trimmed the lead down to 10 on a pair of occasions, but the Hawks converted their free throws the rest of the way to pull out the 85-73 win.
 
North Dakota will enjoy another break before returning to action on Saturday afternoon vs. Denver at 3 p.m. from the Betty to close out the home portion of the schedule.
 
NOTES: UND has tallied their ninth 10+ win season since moving to Division I in 2008 … Billy Brown finished with a career-high eight rebounds in the win … UND moves to 2-15 this season when losing the battle of the boards and 4-14 when shooting under 50% … Cortez Seales is averaging 16.7 points per game since the injury to Conner Avants (Jan. 23) … The Hawks move to 31-5 over the last three seasons and 7-1 this season when scoring 80+ points in a game … Moody matched his career-high with 21 points.