BOCA RATON, Fla. – The University of North Dakota men's basketball team dropped a 77-72 decision to UT-Martin its final game of the Paradise Classic at Albessinio Court on the campus of FAU on Sunday afternoon.
Three-point shooting played a key factor in the loss, with UND (2-3) going 4-of-26 for 15.4 percent. Meanwhile, UTM (2-3) went 9-for-15 from beyond the arc for 60.0 percent. The shooting from beyond the arc was uncharacteristic for both teams on the young season, with North Dakota hitting 41.4 percent of its shots from beyond the arc heading into the game and Tennessee-Martin only making 29.1 percent of its three-point tries before Sunday afternoon.
K.K. Curry and K.J. Simon played key roles in the victory for the Skyhawks with the pair combining for 45 points. Curry finished with a game-high 24 points, while Simon threw in 21 points, including a dagger from downtown as the shot clock was expiring with 53 seconds left in the game to put UTM up 73-66.
Caleb Nero led the Fighting Hawks with 20 points and now has back-to-back 20-point performances after pouring in a career-high 23 points against Florida Atlantic on Saturday night. Nero also had a team-high two steals, while dishing out a team-best three assists.
Tsotne Tsartsidze was a bright spot for North Dakota, narrowly missing a double-double with career-highs of 13 points and nine rebounds.
Mitchell Sueker also netted double digits with 11 points.
The game featured 15 lead changes and eight ties, with North Dakota winning the rebounding battle by a 36-30 margin. UND held a 42-36 advantage in points in the paint. The Hawk bench outscored the Skyhawk reserves 20-13, but in the end, it was hot shooting from Tennessee-Martin that was the deciding factor in the game. The Skyhawks went 54.7 percent from the field and 60.0 percent from beyond the arc, while the Hawks finished at 42.6 percent from the floor and 15.4 percent from downtown.
North Dakota trailed 35-33 at intermission but led 37-35 after the first two possessions of the second half, following made jumpers from Tsartsidze and Sueker. The teams traded five leads by the 12:35 mark in the second half, with UT-Martin using a pair of 6-0 runs and a two-minute scoring drought, followed by a three-minute scoring drought for North Dakota to reclaim the lead at 50-49. That was the closest UND would come to leading again in the second half, with UTM building its lead up to eight (60-52) with 8:44 left in the contest and then nine (75-66) in the final minute.
UND looked poised to make a run, trailing 70-66 with 1:31 left in the contest, but Simon added the dagger with a three-point make with time on the shot clock expiring to push the UTM lead back up to 73-66.
The Fighting Hawks continued battling and trimmed the lead down to seven at 77-70 after a make from Nero and then the Hawks made it interesting in the final seconds, adding a layup from
Paul Bruns and then drawing a Skyhawk offensive foul on the next possession to give UND the ball back down 77-72 with five seconds left deep in UTM territory. The Skyhawks were able to force Bruns into a tough three-point look and then corralled the rebound to hold on for the Skyhawk victory.
Before halftime, Sueker led the Hawks with nine points, followed by Nero chipping in eight. North Dakota led the rebounding battle by an 18-13 margin at intermission.
The game started with North Dakota up 11-7 at the first media timeout, highlighted by a
Matt Norman triple and four points from Tsartsidze. By the 11:27 point in the first half, the Hawks led 16-12 and Sueker had the team-lead in points with five.
Tennessee-Martin scored 14 points to North Dakota's 10 by the next media timeout to knot the score up at 21 apiece with less than eight minutes to go before intermission. The teams then traded points until UT-Martin earned a 27-26 edge with less than three minutes before the break and then led 35-33 at intermission, following five consecutive points from Curry.
North Dakota will continue its Florida trip on Wednesday, visiting Florida International for a 10 a.m. (CT) match-up in Miami.
