Feb. 27, 2001
ST. CLOUD, Minn. — Trailing by 19 points to St. Cloud State with 8:27 to play, North Dakota made a valiant comeback attempt, but in the end came up just short, as the Huskies beat the Sioux, 84-81, on Tuesday to advance to the semifinal round of the North Central Conference men’s basketball tournament.
A potential game-tying three-point shot attempt by Sioux forward Kyle Behrens (Sr., Hayfield, Minn.) hit the rim and bounced off as time expired, sending St. Cloud State to a Friday NCC semifinal matchup with South Dakota State.
UND finished the season with a 16-11 overall record. St. Cloud State is 22-5 overall.
After trailing 69-50 with 8:27 to play, the Sioux outscored the Huskies 31-15 in the final 8:14, with Sioux guard Jeff Brandt (Fr., Minot, N.D.) scoring 13 points during that stretch.
Prior to Behrens’ last-second shot, UND had one other chance to tie or go ahead in the final minute.
Down 80-78, UND had the ball with under 30 seconds left when Brandt drove to his left, spun and put up a short jump shot from the left baseline. The shot missed, however, and St. Cloud State got the rebound.
After a Huskies timeout, UND point guard Curtis Munlin (Sr., Mishawaka, Ind.) fouled St. Cloud State’s Forrest Witt with 13.9 seconds left, sending Witt to the free throw line with a one-and-one. Witt made both free throws, making it 82-78, but UND forward Tom Jacobson (Sr., Mayville, N.D.) drained a three-pointer with 7.3 seconds to play to cut the St. Cloud State lead to 82-81.
Behrens fouled Witt with 6.6 seconds left, and the Huskies’ guard made both free throws in a double bonus situation. Munlin took the in-bounds pass across half court, and found Behrens open at the top of the key. Behrens had an open look at his last-second shot, but his shot hit the front of the rim and bounced away.
Behrens, the NCC’s leading regular-season scorer, finished with a game-high 22 points and a career-high 14 rebounds. Munlin scored 21 points, Brandt had 20 and Jacobson added 14 points. St. Cloud State was led by B.J. Brandt, who had 20 points.
In the first half, the Huskies were leading 16-15 and then went on an 8-2 run to lead 24-15 with 9:32 left. The Sioux then went on a 7-0 run to get within 24-22 with 5:24 remaining.
After St. Cloud State’s Todd Bishop made a 3-pointer to increase the Huskies’ lead to 27-22, Sebesta scored underneath and Jacobson connected on a 3-pointer to tie it, 27-27, with 3:13 to play in the half.
St. Cloud State then went on a 10-2 run capped off by an Alex Carlson layup with three seconds to play.
It appeared there would be no more first-half scoring, but Munlin hit a three-pointer from beyond half court as time expired in the half to bring the Sioux back within four points (37-33)at intermission.
The momentum continued for UND early in the second half. Behrens scored on a dunk and then a 3-pointer to give UND a 38-37 lead with 19:05 to play.
The Huskies countered with a 6-0 run to regain the lead, 43-38. UND got back within two points (46-44), but then St. Cloud State went on a 13-3 run in a 2:41 stretch to build a 57-49 lead with 12:06 left.
Shortly thereafter, a 10-2 Huskies’ run made it 69-50 St. Cloud State with 8:27 to play.
It looked like the Huskies had control of the game, UND went on an 18-3 run over the next four minutes to cut St. Cloud State’s lead to 72-68 with 4:28 to play. Brandt connected on three 3-pointers and scored 11 points during the run.
St. Cloud State shot 60.7 percent from the field (17-of-28) in the second half and 49.1 percent (27-of-55) for the game. UND shot 43.8 percent from the field (28-of-64) for the game.
The Huskies made 23 of 26 free throws (88.5 percent), while UND made 13 of 18 foul shots (72.2 percent).
Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
North Dakota vs St. Cloud State Univ.
2/27/01 8:00 p.m. at Halenbeck Hall
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VISITORS: North Dakota 16-11
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
30 Jeff Brandt......... f 7-20 4-11 2-2 1 3 4 3 20 1 2 0 0 33
40 Jerrid Sebesta...... f 1-3 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 2 2 0 2 1 0 25
54 Kyle Behrens........ c 7-13 3-7 5-8 3 11 14 4 22 1 1 0 0 31
12 Curtis Munlin....... g 8-14 3-5 2-3 3 2 5 1 21 5 4 0 4 40
24 Tom Jacobson........ g 5-10 2-5 2-2 2 4 6 2 14 3 1 0 0 39
32 Ryan Walker......... 0-1 0-1 2-3 2 1 3 1 2 0 0 0 0 7
34 Nigel Jenkins....... 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 8
42 Josh Johnson........ 0-1 0-1 0-0 2 0 2 5 0 0 3 0 0 8
44 Brandon Badding..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 9
TEAM................ 1 1 2 1
Totals.............. 28-64 12-31 13-18 16 25 41 20 81 11 14 1 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-27 48.1% 2nd Half: 15-37 40.5% Game: 43.8% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-9 33.3% 2nd Half: 9-22 40.9% Game: 38.7% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 4-7 57.1% 2nd Half: 9-11 81.8% Game: 72.2% 2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOME TEAM: St. Cloud State Univ. 22-5
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
30 Rado Rancik......... f 5-11 2-4 3-5 2 6 8 3 15 3 2 1 0 35
40 Jason Kron.......... f 6-8 1-1 2-2 0 3 3 4 15 4 0 0 1 31
54 B.J. Brant.......... c 6-12 2-4 6-6 1 0 1 3 20 1 1 0 0 32
04 Alex Carlson........ g 2-7 0-1 6-6 1 7 8 1 10 4 4 0 2 35
20 Forrest Witt........ g 4-9 0-1 6-7 2 3 5 1 14 4 1 0 1 33
14 Todd Bishop......... 3-4 2-3 0-0 0 3 3 3 8 1 0 0 1 21
44 Alan Persinger...... 1-4 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 2 2 2 0 0 1 13
TEAM................ 1 1
Totals.............. 27-55 7-16 23-26 6 23 29 17 84 19 8 1 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-27 37.0% 2nd Half: 17-28 60.7% Game: 49.1% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-10 30.0% 2nd Half: 4-6 66.7% Game: 43.8% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 14-15 93.3% 2nd Half: 9-11 81.8% Game: 88.5% 0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Officials: Ref- Tom Mauer UpI- Curt Seter UpII- Tim Garrett
Technical fouls: North Dakota-None. St. Cloud State Univ.-None.
Attendance: 1278
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
North Dakota.................. 33 48 - 81
St. Cloud State Univ.......... 37 47 - 84
First round of the NCC Tournament.