SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Top-seeded North Dakota State jumped out to a 21-2 lead and never looked back in an 89-53 victory over No. 6 seeded North Dakota in the Summit League Championship on Tuesday night from Sioux Falls.
 
UND (15-18) falls to 1-2 in conference finals since becoming Division I eligible in 2013-14 and only the fifth school in the history of the Summit League to reach the championship game in two-or-fewer seasons of being a member.
 
Marlon Stewart ended his UND career with 12 points, six rebounds, and two assists to finish as the only player in program history to rank inside the top-10 all-time in career scoring average and career assists.
 
Kienan Walter and Billy Brown also put the finishing touches on their careers as Fighting Hawks, scoring eight and two, respectively.
 
De'Sean Allen-Eikens led the way for UND with 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting while grabbing five rebounds, an assist, and a steal for his best game against the Bison in his young career. The freshman also became the program's scoring leader by a freshman with 454 points this season, passing Troy Huff's previous record of 452 in 2010-11.
 
Filip Rebraca was the final Fighting Hawk in double figures, scoring 11 points and grabbing four rebounds.
 
North Dakota State (25-8) shot over 55% from the field in the win, including hitting 13-of-25 (52%) from downtown, while holding UND to just 20-of-56 (35.7%) and 3-of-19 (15.8%) from three. The Hawks, who entered ranking inside the top-20 across the NCAA in free throw percentage, sank only 10-of-18 from the charity stripe.
 
Unlike the previous two games in the tournament, the shots weren't falling out of the gate for the Hawks. North Dakota State struck for the first nine points of the contest and held UND off the scoreboard for over five minutes to take an early 9-0 advantage at the game's first media timeout.
 
The run kept building for the Bison through the opening minutes of the stanza, pushing the advantage to 21-2 with just under 12 minutes to play in the first half. UND started the half just 1-of-9 from distance, including an 0-for-5 start from distance, while NDSU hit 50% of its shots and was a perfect 3-for-3 from three.
 
North Dakota State extended its lead to 22, 34-12, but the Fighting Hawks showed some signs of life immediately after. Rebraca led the way with a rejection on the defensive end before running the floor with a huge dunk and then drawing an offensive foul to cut the deficit to 34-16 with just over six minutes remaining in the half.
 
The Bison answered back with a 6-0 spurt of its own, aided by the long ball once again, to increase the lead to 25 before the charity stripe sent the top seeds to the locker room with a 49-22 lead at the half.
 
UND came out of the halftime break much better on offense, but still struggled to slow down the Bison attack as the teams traded baskets through the opening five minutes of the stanza. Stewart knocked down a pair of shots to reach double figures for the 26th straight game while Allen-Eikens started to establish his presence inside.
 
The redshirt freshman moved into double figures for the first time against the Bison before Rebraca joined him just a few possessions later, however, UND couldn't really chip into the deficit as NDSU held a 69-42 advantage just beyond the halfway point of the second half.
 
North Dakota State stayed hot for the remainder of the game for the 89-53 victory and end North Dakota's season with a 15-18 record.
 
 NOTES: North Dakota falls to 16-7 in conference tournaments and 3-2 in finals since joining Division I (2008-present) … Stewart extended his UND DI record to 26 straight games in double figures … Paul Sather becomes only the third coach in Summit League history to lead his team to a championship game in his first year as head coach … Stewart ended his career with 335 assists to rank ninth all-time in program history and his 168 helpers this season are sixth all-time at UND … The senior's 1,259 career points rank 18th all-time at UND and fifth in the program's DI era … The three makes from three by UND tied a season low (Jan. 15 at SDSU) … UND leads the all-time series with NDSU, 162-138, but falls to 2-2 in postseason meetings … UND's six turnover tied a season low.