GRAND FORKS, N.D. – North Dakota fell 80-65 to Kansas City in Summit League men's basketball action inside the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center on Thursday night.
Paul Bruns was the top scorer for UND (6-22, 2-13 SL), netting a game-high 21 points on 6-of-12 shooting. All six of his makes from the floor came from beyond the arc and he also went 3-of-3 at the charity stripe while grabbing seven rebounds.
Matt Norman shot lights-out in the second half, netting 15 of his total 18 points in that half alone.
Brady Danielson just missed double figures with eight points and seven boards.
Brian Mathews shared the team-lead in rebounds with Bruns and Danielson and also pulled down seven rebounds to go with five points.
Evan Gilyard II was the leading scorer for KC (17-10, 10-5 SL) with 19 points and six assists. Josiah Allick also added a double-double, putting in 18 points and grabbing 11 boards.
Marvin Nesbit Jr. and Arkel Lamar were the final Roos in double-digits with 17 and 13 points, respectively.
North Dakota finished the night shooting 35.3 percent, knocking down 13 triples and hitting 80 percent (16-of-20) at the charity stripe. Comparatively, Kansas City hit at 58.6 percent, netted seven trifectas and went 5-of-16 at the free throw line.
In the game, the Roos did most of their damage in the paint with a 40-8 advantage, while also holding a 35-32 edge in rebounds. The Fighting Hawks finished with a 16-12 advantage in fast break points.
Panoam put UND up 3-0 early and scored the first five points for North Dakota. At the first media timeout, KC led 10-5. Midway through the first half, Kansas City led 18-10 before an impressive triple from Norman as the shot clock was expiring made it 18-13.
Shortly after that point, Kansas City went on a 20-3 run to make it 42-19 with 3:06 left in the half. The Roos led 45-19 with 2:22 left in the half before a 7-0 North Dakota run trimmed the deficit down to 45-26 at intermission. During that run, Danielson buried a trifecta and then Bruns knocked down a three and was fouled, adding the and-one free throw.
In the first half, KC shot 70.0 percent from the floor to UND's 28.6 percent. Bruns was the top scorer for the Hawks with seven, while Nesbitt Jr. had a team-high 14 points for the Roos.
In the first moments of the second half, Bruns netted a three-pointer and Norman added two free throws to cut the deficit to 45-31. Midway through the second half, the tally was 59-48 Kansas City and North Dakota had started to chip away at the lead.
Moments later, five straight points from Norman made it a single-digit game at 59-51. Nesbitt Jr. pushed the lead back to 10 with a jumper, but Bruns added another triple to make it 61-54.
The back-and-forth game continued until the Roos went on a 5-0 run to make it 68-55 with 6:30 left. Over the final minutes, KC outscored UND 12-10 to hold on for the 80-65 win.
North Dakota will continue its homestand on Saturday with Oral Roberts at 1 p.m. (CT) inside the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. The game will be carried by Bally Sports North and aired on the Home of Economy Radio Network.
