GRAND FORKS, N.D. – North Dakota needed one more stop in the final 11 seconds of Saturday afternoon's 311^th clash between the host Fighting Hawks and the visitors from Fargo and junior Eli King delivered. The Caledonia, Minnesota native denied Jacari White's shot on a drive attempt in the waning seconds as the Hawks outlasted their longtime Peace Garden State foe 79-77 in front of a near capacity crowd inside the Betty Englestad Sioux Center.
 
King's block upheld the Hawks' second-to-last possession which saw Mier Panoam make good on a second chance and-one effort which was the second of two offensive rebounds on the possession with the first being grabbed by Amar Kuljuhovic who cleaned up a miss on the second of two free throw attempts by King.
 
The Bison, who entered as the nation's top three-point shooting team, received an unsuccessful look by Tajavis Miller in response and then elected for the drive inside rather than an attempt from range to win it in the final possession.
 
Out of the intermission, King hit a wide open three to pull UND to within a possession. Enter junior guard Treysen Eaglestaff. He had seven points at the break, but exploded for 20 second-half points with his first big make in the final twenty pulling UND to within a point of the NDSU lead at 41-40 with 17:33 remaining. Just over 75 seconds later, Eaglestaff drove down through the middle of the lane, split two Bison, and delivered a two-handed jam to keep the Hawks within a possession of the lead.
 
Moments later, King found Eaglestaff along the near wing and the latter stepped into a lead-grabbing triple as the Hawks moved out front 47-44. He was far from done as a baseline attempt found net and broke a 51-51 tie, before the Hawks' next offensive possession erupted the BESC as Eaglestaff hammered a trifecta off a dribble to his left that pushed the Hawks up five at 56-51.
 
As the second half clock dipped under 9:30, Eaglestaff was left open off of a screen and he made the Bison pay with a top-of-the-key three and a four-point UND lead. King again found Eaglestaff, this time cutting to the hoop for an easy make and a 63-60 Hawks advantage. With the contest tied at 63 and the clock nearing the seven-minute mark, Eaglestaff got a Betty bounce off of the home rim on a spinning finish of a drive to the basket.
 
Senior Amar Kuljuhovic delivered a pair of key baskets in the second half as did classmate Deng Mayar who hit a winged triple off a driving assist from Eaglestaff as the Hawks retook the lead at 71-69 with 4:31 to play. Mambourou Mara then delivered consecutive possessions of tough inside buckets with the second pushing UND up 75-72 and setting the stage for the dramatic Kuljuhovic-Panoam-King finish.
 
In the final moments of the first half, Mayar took over offensively for the Hawks. He cleaned up a close miss on a drive to the bucket by Panoam with two hands and on the next NDSU possession, the senior swiped the basketball from the Bison's Jacksen Moni, drove the distance and finished an and-one attempt with his back to the basket.
 
Despite a successful three-point attempt from the Bison in the final seconds that pushed the halftime advantage to six, the Hawks defended the nation's top shooting team from range to a 28% success rate in 18 first half attempts.
 
The Hawks withstood a pair of scoring droughts in the first half. UND went scoreless for nearly three minutes in addition to suffering four turnovers after the first media timeout which saw the host hold a 10-7 lead. That dry spell allowed NDSU to grab an 18-17 lead at about the halfway point of the opening twenty minutes and the Bison would hold the advantage at 23-21 at the under-8 stoppage.
 
A second scoring drought allowed for the Bison to take a nine-point lead, the visitor's largest of the day, at 32-23 with 4:07 before the intermission. North Dakota responded with Mayar's aforementioned effort as well as inside shots by Dariyus Woodson and Mambourou Mara.
 
The Hawks prepare for the final week of the regular season as trips to St. Paul (2/27) and Vermillion (3/1) are on tap. UND meets St. Thomas on Thursday and will battle South Dakota in the regular season finale on Saturday.
 
The action can be seen on Midco Sports and the Summit League Network. 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. Live stats for the contest will be available at www.FightingHawks.com.
 
Postgame Notes

• The win over NDSU is the 100^th against the Bison at home in Grand Forks and the 165^th win against their in-state foe all-time
• UND has won two straight Summit League games for the first time this season
• The Hawks have won 11 games for the 13^th time in its DI era
• The action featured 13 lead changes and nine tied scores
• UND finished +12 in second chance points
• UND withstood 33 NDSU attempts from three; 15 fewer than in the January 25 meeting in Fargo
• The Hawks made 30 shots on Saturday marking the ninth time this season and fourth against a SL foe that UND has netted no fewer than 30 made shots in a game
• UND shot 50.8% from the floor, crossing over 50% in a game for the sixth time this season and third time this month
• The Hawks' 47.4% success rate from three-point range is the third-highest clip this season
• The offensive glass has been controlled by UND in 22 of the squad's 29 games, the Hawks have grabbed 12+ offensive rebounds in 24 of 29 games and have outrebounded their opposition 18 times
• Eaglestaff finished with 27 points as he crossed over 20 in a game for the 19^th time in his career and he added four rebounds, four assists and two of UND's three steals
• Eaglestaff is 11 points from becoming the 18^th Fighting Hawk to reach 1,300 in a career and he is 54 points shy of moving into the top 15 on the program's all-time scoring list
• Mayar followed with 13 points in his final game inside the Betty and he was one of four players to grab at least seven rebounds in the win
• Mayar notched career best efforts in free throw attempts (5) and free throws made (4)
• Mara added 11 points, while King and Panoam each chipped in with nine points and eight rebounds
• King led UND with five assists
• Mara matched his career high in shots made with five
• Kuljuhovic's final game inside the Betty resulted in six points and seven rebounds

 
How It Happened
 
First Half
15:49 – UND 10, NDSU 7 (UND 3-of-last-3 FGs; NDSU 2-of-last-8 FGs)
10:38 – NDSU 18, UND 17 (UND 2:50 scoring drought, 4 TOs last 4:24)
7:56 – NDSU 23, UND 21 (UND 7 TOs; NDSU 3-of-10 3PT FGs)
4:04 – NDSU 32, UND 23 (NDSU 7-0 run over 2:06; UND 1-of-last-10 FGs, 3:22 scoring drought)
HALF – NDSU 39, UND 33
 
Second Half
15:42 – NDSU 46, UND 44
11:31 – UND 56, NDSU 53 (Eaglestaff 13 2H PTS, 5-of-6 FGs, 3-of-3 3PT FGs)
8:07 – UND 63, NDSU 63 (NDSU 3-of-last-3 FGs)
3:20 – UND 73, NDSU 72
FINAL – UND 79, NDSU 77
                                                                                                                          
For more information on North Dakota men's basketball, visit FightingHawks.com or follow on social media @UNDmbasketball.