LOS ANGELES, Calif. – At times it wasn't perfect, but in the end, it was a total team effort for North Dakota men's basketball on Friday night in the U.S. stint of the Cancun Challenge from inside Loyola Marymount's Albert Gersten Pavilion. UND outlasted LMU 77-73 in a second half that was blanketed with four lead changes and five tied scores. Plenty of stars were out for the Fighting Hawks in Los Angeles as four players finished in double-figure scoring led by junior guard Treysen Eaglestaff's game-high 23 points on 9-of-18 shooting.
 
North Dakota (3-2) carried a four-point advantage into the intermission behind a 45.5% shooting effort from the floor. The  Hawks led by as many as seven points on four different occasions in the final 8:30 of the opening twenty and were still firing at a rate of 52% at the third media stoppage with under six minutes remaining before the break.
 
The Fighting Hawks opened the second half with a baseline drive by junior guard Eli King who finished a reverse lay-up for the first bucket of nine second-half points and a 38-32 UND lead. Moments later, sophomore guard Mier Panoam bounced in a helper to a closing Amar Kuljuhovic who finished the contact bucket off glass and added the harm at the line for the old-fashioned three-point play and a 41-34 UND lead; its fifth of seven or more points in eight minutes of action.
 
LMU responded with a 5-0 run that was promptly ended with junior forward Dariyus Woodson offering a shot fake at the top of key before finishing with a one-handed rim rocker to push the Hawks up four at 43-39 with 17:15 remaining. The ensuing action would shift in favor of the Lions who overall began its second-half push on a 17-11 advantage to move into the lead at 49-47 with 11:33 to play.
 
UND trailed by four at 49-45 after the Lions' Will Johnston hit from just inside the arched tape, but an active King cleaned up a Hawks misfire with a one-dribble putback off glass to keep the deficit at a possession. LMU was the first to 50 on Friday night holding a 53-49 lead, before Eaglestaff deposited a bank shot from the left wing to pull within a point of the host at 53-52.
 
Just over two and half minutes later with the clock dipping below the eight-minute mark, King hammered a triple try on a helper from senior forward Brian Mathews to give UND a 55-53 lead. In gaining the lead, the Hawks held LMU to a 1-for-8 shooting effort from the floor over nearly a four-minute span which began once the Lions took their 49-47 lead.
 
With under four minutes remaining and UND again trailing, the Hawks didn't turn to any one player but platooned their lineup for multiple game-changing efforts on both ends of the floor. Panoam gave the Hawks a 63-62 lead that UND would not surrender as the fearless guard drove inside drawing contact and glass for a tough finish. The Hawks were just getting started as Woodson hit a nearly uncontested three (66-62) and Panoam made a pair of free throws to push the Hawks out front 68-62.
 
Within that sequence, King picked up a pair of steals for added possessions and Eaglestaff hammered another trifecta from the left wing on a helper from Kuljuhovic that increased the Hawks' lead to nine with 2:07 left in the game. LMU closed and pulled to within three at 71-68 in the final minute, but Panoam took over with a short jaunt from the top of the key straight inside and finished with the left hand moments before the Hawks finished off the Lions at the line.
 
The second stage of the Cancun Challenge sends the Hawks to Riviera Maya, Mexico for contests with Bethune-Cookman on Tuesday, November 26 and the Southeastern Louisiana/Gardner-Webb winner on Wednesday, November 27. UND leaves the continental United States for the first time since opening the 2017-18 season at the Outrigger Resorts Rainbow Classic in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Hawks will hoop on international soil for the first time since a mid-August preseason tour of Europe in 2015 that took UND to Italy and France. UND's action in Mexico will be the first countable contests not on U.S. soil since a 46-44 win at Manitoba College on January 16, 1948. 
 
Fans can follow the action live with Fighting Hawks men's basketball radio play-by-play voice Paul Ralston on KSNR 100.3 FM The Cat or on the iHeart Radio app. The action can be seen on FloCollege and live stats for the contest will be available at www.FightingHawks.com.
 
Postgame Notes

• UND attempted a season-high 67 shots and matched season highs in made shots (30), assists (13) and blocked shots (5)
• The Hawks' 30 made shots mark just the second instance  under Sather that the Hawks have netted 30 makes against a Division I non-conference opponent in a winning effort with the first coming against Elon (30) in the second game of the 2023-24 season
• North Dakota posted its most efficient three-point effort of the season shooting .368 from beyond-the-arc with seven makes; the Hawks have hit five or more threes in all five games this season
• In the final 2:36 of play, the Hawks went 6-for-7 from the line with two-make trips from Panoam, King and Eaglestaff
• UND is now 19-for-24 in free throw attempts in the final five minutes of a single-digit game
• After recording just five offensive rebounds in the season opener against Colorado State, the Hawks have corralled 14 or more boards on the offensive end for the fourth-straight game
• UND's 43 rebounds are the second-most in a game by the Hawks this season and the most against a DI opponent
• Eaglestaff, who led with a game-high 35 minutes, registered his ninth career game with 20+ points and led the Hawks in scoring for the 39^th time in his career
• Panoam and Woodson both notched season highs in scoring with Mier landing 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting, while Dariyus added a dozen points on 5-of-9 shooting in 32 minutes
• King's second-half performance pushed him to double figures with ten points; the tenth double-figure scoring effort of his UND career
• Kuljuhovic grabbed eight rebounds and Panoam and King followed with seven each
• Both Kuljuhovic and Mathews recorded career-best efforts in helpers with four
• UND finished +3 in rebounding and +4 in points in the paint and weathered nine LMU transition points and a -5 standing in turnovers despite the Hawks committing a D1 season-low 11
• The victory evens the series history with the Lions at 1-1
• UND wins for the 64^th time under Sather and for the 28^th time away from Grand Forks in his tenure
• Hawks improve to 4-9 in games played in the state of California since 2008-09
• The contest bookended the first five games of the season which saw the Hawks tip-off in each of the continental U.S. time zones for the first time prior to December in program history and within a span of 18 days

 
How It Happened
 
First Half
15:09 – LMU 10, UND 9
11:40 – UND 14, LMU 12
5:47 – UND 29, LMU 22 (Hawks shooting 52%)
3:19 – UND 31, LMU 25
HALF – UND 36, LMU 32
 
Second Half
18:18 – UND 41, LMU 36
15:46 – UND 43, LMU 41
11:33 – LMU 49, UND 47 (LMU 17-11 run to open 2^nd)
7:45 – UND 55, LMU 53 (UND 6-0 last 2:41; LMU 1-of-last-8 FGs)
4:14 – LMU 62, UND 61 (LMU 3-of-last 3 FGs)
1:00 – UND 71, LMU 68 (LMU 6-0 run over :41)
FINAL – UND 77, LMU 73
 
For more information on North Dakota men's basketball, visit FightingHawks.com or follow on social media @UNDmbasketball.