GRAND FORKS, N.D. – Despite holding a 40-35 advantage in rebounds, North Dakota dropped an 87-73 decision to Oral Roberts inside the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center on Saturday afternoon.
Paul Bruns recorded the third double-double of his career at UND (6-23, 2-14 SL) in the game, netting a team-high 17 points and grabbing a team leading 10 rebounds. Of his 17 points, 13 of them came in the second half to go with three assists and a block.
Matt Norman also finished in double figures, pouring in 16 points while corralling seven boards and dishing out one assist.
Ethan Igbanugo added 15 points with five rebounds, followed by
Brady Danielson netting eight and
Bentiu Panoam chipping in seven points.
Max Abmas was the top player for Oral Roberts (18-9, 12-4 SL), putting in a game-high 18 points and leading the Golden Eagles in both assists (4) and steals (3). Abmas also went 10-of-10 at the charity stripe.
Kareem Thompson knocked down seven shots for 15 points, trailed by Sir Issac McBride putting in 14 points to go with a team-high six rebounds.
North Dakota went 23-of-61 from the field for 37.7 percent, hit seven trifectas and went 20-of-26 at the free throw line. Comparatively, Oral Roberts went 31-of-64 from the floor for 48.4 percent, added six triples and put in 19 of 23 attempts at the free throw line.
The Golden Eagles did most of their damage in the paint, holding a 48-20 advantage in points down low. ORU also held advantages in points off turnovers (10-4) and fast break points (13-4). UND won the rebounding battle by a 40-35 margin and both teams dished out 11 assists.
The first half featured 10 lead changes and nine ties, with both teams holding a four-point lead for the biggest leads of the half.
Midway through the opening half, UND led 17-14 after trailing 12-8 with 13 minutes remaining. The teams continued battling and ORU went up 26-22 with just over five minutes left until intermission.
North Dakota claimed a 33-32 lead with 31 seconds remaining before halftime, originally getting the lead back at 31-30 with just under two minutes to go off of free throws from Norman. Igbanugo put the Hawks back on top at the 33-32 mark after a beautiful assist from
Reid Grant.
Francis Lacis put in a triple in the final seconds of the opening period to put the Golden Eagles up 35-33 at the break. In the opening 20 minutes, UND shot 41.4 percent, while ORU was hitting at 41.2 percent. Norman was the leading scorer for the Fighting Hawks with 10, while Thompson paced the Golden Eagles also with 10 points.
By the under 16 media timeout, ORU had increased its lead by one to 47-44. With 13:10 left in the ballgame, the score was knotted up once again at 50-50, following four points from Bruns and an Igbanugo layup.
The Hawks remained within striking distance until a 12-4 run for Oral Roberts pushed its lead to 66-56 with 7:38 left in the game. A 14-6 run for ORU moments later increased the deficit to 16 at 78-62 at the 4:23 mark.
Despite knocking down three jumpers and going 5-of-6 at the charity stripe in the final 4:23, Oral Roberts added three made jumpers and then went 5-of-7 at the line to be victorious, 87-73.
North Dakota will play the third game of its four-game homestand on Tuesday afternoon at Noon (CT) against St. Thomas. The contest is a COVID-19 make-good game from the originally scheduled contest on Feb. 10. The game will be carried by UND Insider and aired on the Home of Economy Radio Network.
