GRAND FORKS, N.D. – North Dakota State used a 10-0 run with just over six minutes remaining in the game to turn a 56-55 deficit into a 65-56 lead as the visitors held on for a 74-70 win over North Dakota on Wednesday night at the Betty.
 
The 297th edition of the in-state rivalry featured 17 lead changes and 11 ties, the most in any game for UND this season, as the Bison (15-14, 6-4 Summit League) captured their first season sweep over the Fighting Hawks (9-15, 3-8 Summit League) since the 1996-97 season.
 
Marlon Stewart scored a game-high 22 points, grabbed four rebounds, and dished out a pair of assists in 36 minutes of action to record his sixth double-digit scoring game in the last seven contests. The junior has also tallied 20-or-more points in three tilts this season, ranking third on the squad in that category.
 
Cortez Seales also eclipsed the 20-point mark for the Fighting Hawks, scoring 21 points on 9-of-17 shooting as the senior bumped his average to 18.3 points per game over his last three games. Seales also matched the team best with seven rebounds, marking the third straight contest accomplishing that feat.
 
Kienan Walter was the final Fighting Hawk to register in double figures, scoring 12 points, tying the team-best seven rebounds, rejecting one shot, and recording a steal. The junior has scored 10+ points in three consecutive contests for the first time this season and is now averaging 13.3 points per game and five rebounds over that stretch.  
 
Four Bison reached double figures in points, led by Vinnie Shahid's 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting. NDSU recorded 24 bench points to UND's three as top-scorer Deng Geu finished with 11 points and eight rebounds to top all reserve players. Tyson Ward matched Geu's rebounding performance with eight, while also scoring 12 points for the visitors.
 
NDSU finished 26-of-49 (.531) from the field while holding the Fighting Hawks to just 28-of-63 (.444) in the game. UND struggled to make shots fall in the opening 20 minutes, converting only 12-of-33 (.364), before performing much stronger in the second half with a 16-of-30 clip (.533).
 
The battle of the boards was tightly contested as both teams finished with 32 rebounds, marking the first time UND has finished the game deadlocked in rebounds. Just three days after finishing -26 in the paint at Omaha, the Hawks dominated with 46 points inside the painted area and allowed just 30 by the Bison.
 
Both teams were locked in on defense to begin the contest, surrendering only nine points each through the opening 9:13. Neither side could build a lead larger than five throughout much of the first half, trading runs throughout.
 
After NDSU built one of those five-point leads, 30-25, with less than a minute to play in the stanza, Seales capped off a strong first half with a falling-away jumper just before the horn to send the Fighting Hawks to locker room trailing by just three, 30-27.
 
The ebbs-and-flows of the game continued right away to begin the second half. After NDSU built its advantage up to seven, its largest of the game at the time, UND answered with nine straight of their own to bring the 2,016 fans to their feet and give the Hawks a 36-34 lead. Billy Brown provided the spark during the spurt, hitting UND's first three of the game as well as a spinning layup to tally five points.
 
The lead exchanged hands multiple times again, but a Seales jumper in the paint with 8:57 to play gave the hosts its largest lead of the game, 53-49. From there, however, it started to slip away for the Hawks as the Bison scored 16 of the next 19 points to turn that four-point deficit into a 65-56 lead with just under five minutes to go. Turnovers haunted UND during the stretch, as the 1-3-1 zone defense by the Bison led to a pair of critical giveaways by the Hawks that led the NDSU baskets.
 
UND whittled the deficit down to four on a trio of occasions, but the Bison were able to escape Grand Forks with a 74-70 victory on Wednesday night to clinch the regular season sweep.
 
NOTES: The regular season sweep by the Bison is the first since 1996-97 when NDSU was in the middle of a five-game winning streak vs. North Dakota … The road team has won six of the last seven meetings in the series … UND still leads the all-time series, 164-136, but trails in the Division I era (2008-present), 8-4 … Attendance was 2,016, the most for a UND home game this season … UND falls to 2-12 this season when trailing at the half and 0-10 when shooting a lower percentage than its opponent … Wednesday marks the second time this season that two players have scored 20+ points for UND (1/12/19 vs. Western Illinois).