Feb. 24, 2001
BROOKINGS, S.D. — The UND men’s basketball team trailed South Dakota State by 18 points early in the second half on Saturday, but cut the deficit to two points on three occasions in the final seven minutes before eventually losing to the host Jackrabbits, 94-84, in North Central Conference men’s basketball.
The loss was the second in a row and sixth in the past seven games for North Dakota, which finished the regular season 16-10 overall and 9-9 in the NCC. UND tied with Minnesota State, Mankato for fifth place in the conference standings, but the Mavericks will get the fifth seed in the conference playoffs because they beat the Sioux twice during the regular season.
UND will be seeded sixth and will play at 8 p.m. Tuesday at St. Cloud State. North Dakota’s game with the Huskies will be the second game of a conference playoff doubleheader at St. Cloud State’s Halenbeck Hall. The St. Cloud State women’s basketball team will play host to the South Dakota State women’s team at 6 p.m. on Tuesday.
After beating UND, the South Dakota State men finished 21-5 overall and 13-5 in the NCC. The Jacks are the league’s No. 2 seed and will play host to Augustana on Tuesday.
Against the Sioux on Saturday, SDSU led, 50-37, at the half and increased its lead to 18 points by outscoring UND 7-2 to start the second half. The Jacks still led by 14 points (67-53) with 13:08 to play, but the Sioux went on a 16-4 run to cut the lead to cut the lead to two points (71-69) with 7:10 left.
UND guard Nigel Jenkins (Jr., Chicago, Ill.) had five points and forward Jerrid Sebesta (Jr., Montevideo, Minn.) had four points to spark the Sioux run.
South Dakota State got its lead back up to seven points, but a Sebesta layup and Jenkins three-pointer got the Sioux within two points again (76-74) with 4:07 remaining.
After two free throws by the Jacks’ Andy Moeller made it 78-74, UND’s Kyle Behrens (Sr., Hayfield, Minn.) made two free throws to cut the SDSU lead to 78-76 with 3:41 to play.
Four consecutive free throws by SDSU’s Derrick Schantz and a layup by Chris Stoebner upped the Jacks’ lead to eight points (84-76), and the Sioux never got closer than that in the final 2:43.
Behrens led UND with 20 points, 13 in the second half, and Sebesta had a career-high 18 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Jenkins added 12 points and point guard Curtis Munlin (Sr., Mishawaka, Ind.) added 11 points for the Sioux.
South Dakota State had a 42-32 rebounding advantage in the game, but the teams’ field goal shooting was relatively even. SDSU had a slight edge, shooting 46.8 percent (29-of-62) from the field, while UND shot 45.6 percent (31-of-68) from the field.
Behrens finished the season as the NCC’s leading scorer with 364 points (20.2 scoring average) in 18 games. North Dakota State’s Denver TenBroek was second in the league scoring race with 357 points (19.8 scoring average).
Behrens is the first UND player to lead the conference in scoring since Scott Guldseth led the league in 1993 with a 22.9 scoring average. It is just the ninth time in the NCC’s 76-year men’s basketball history that a UND player has led the conference in scoring. Behrens is the sixth Sioux player to lead the NCC in scoring.
Previous UND scoring champions were Chuck Wolfe (1950-51 and 1952-53); Jon Haaven (1953-54 and 1956-57); Phil Jackson (1965-66 and 1966-67); Al Jenkins (1968-69) and Guldseth.
Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
North Dakota vs South Dakota State
2/24/01 8 p.m. at Frost Arena; Brookings, SD
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VISITORS: North Dakota 16-10, 9-9 NCC
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
24 Tom Jacobson........ f 3-6 2-5 0-0 0 3 3 5 8 3 0 0 0 25
40 Jerrid Sebesta...... f 7-10 0-0 4-5 3 5 8 3 18 4 4 0 2 30
54 Kyle Behrens........ c 7-17 3-8 3-6 0 4 4 2 20 3 4 1 2 32
12 Curtis Munlin....... g 5-12 0-2 1-2 0 0 0 3 11 8 0 0 2 35
30 Jeff Brandt......... g 3-11 2-7 0-0 0 3 3 2 8 2 1 0 1 30
22 Corey Sheplee....... 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 5
32 Ryan Walker......... 1-2 0-0 3-3 0 0 0 2 5 2 0 0 1 9
34 Nigel Jenkins....... 4-5 2-2 2-3 2 3 5 2 12 0 4 0 0 18
42 Josh Johnson........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
44 Brandon Badding..... 1-3 0-0 0-0 0 4 4 2 2 0 1 0 0 13
Team................ 4 1 5
Totals.............. 31-68 9-24 13-19 9 23 32 22 84 23 14 1 8 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-32 43.8% 2nd Half: 17-36 47.2% Game: 45.6% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-6 33.3% 2nd Half: 7-18 38.9% Game: 37.5% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 7-12 58.3% 2nd Half: 6-7 85.7% Game: 68.4% 3
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HOME TEAM: South Dakota State 21-5, 13-5 NCC
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
34 Derrick Schantz..... f 6-10 1-3 5-6 0 7 7 3 18 2 3 1 2 28
50 Andy Cone........... f 1-5 1-1 2-2 2 2 4 5 5 1 2 1 2 22
54 Josh Cerveny........ c 6-12 0-0 1-2 5 3 8 0 13 1 2 0 0 25
03 Andy Moeller........ g 4-8 2-3 5-6 0 4 4 0 15 3 2 0 2 26
10 Austin Hansen....... g 3-6 1-2 6-8 0 3 3 3 13 1 0 0 1 22
04 Luke Condill........ 2-4 2-3 0-0 0 1 1 0 6 2 1 0 0 11
22 Ryan Johnson........ 2-6 2-6 1-2 0 2 2 4 7 0 0 1 0 13
24 Mike Smith.......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
30 Chris Stoebner...... 3-6 1-3 4-4 0 4 4 2 11 5 2 0 2 21
40 Cody Volmer......... 2-4 0-0 0-0 0 3 3 2 4 1 0 0 0 19
44 Adam Robinson....... 0-1 0-0 2-2 1 1 2 1 2 1 1 0 1 10
TEAM................ 3 1 4
Totals.............. 29-62 10-21 26-32 11 31 42 20 94 17 13 3 10 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 19-39 48.7% 2nd Half: 10-23 43.5% Game: 46.8% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 8-16 50.0% 2nd Half: 2-5 40.0% Game: 47.6% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 4-4 100 % 2nd Half: 22-28 78.6% Game: 81.2% 5
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Officials: Justin Ingalls, Pete Hansen, Jim Johnston
Technical fouls: North Dakota-None. South Dakota State-None.
Attendance: 3423
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
North Dakota.................. 37 47 - 84
South Dakota State............ 50 44 - 94
North Dakota will play at St. Cloud State Tuesday in Wells Fargo first round.
SDSU will host first-round game Tuesday at 7 p.m.