March 1, 2002
BROOKINGS, SD - Jerome Beasley scored a game-high 23 points and grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds to lead the North Dakota men's basketball team to a 68-53 win over Nebraska-Omaha on Friday in the semifinals of the North Central Conference tournament.
With the win, UND (19-9 overall) advanced to the NCC's Wells Fargo Finals championship game on Saturday against South Dakota State, a 91-77 winner over St. Cloud State. The winner of Saturday's game gains an automatic berth to the NCAA Division II North Central Regional, which will begin Thursday or Friday.
After trailing 29-24 at the half to Nebraska-Omaha, UND came back to tie it 30-30 on two free throws by Josh Johnson with 15:56 left.
It was tied 32-32 when the Sioux got their first lead (35-32) on a three-point play by Jerrid Sebesta with 13:10 remaining. Nebraska-Omaha managed two ties after that, the last (44-44) coming at 9:01.
From there, UND went on a 9-0 run to make it 53-44 with 6:17 left and the Mavericks never got closer than seven again.
The Sioux outscored the Mavericks by 20 (44-24) in the second half and for the game held Nebraska-Omaha to a 31.3 field goal percentage (20-of-64), the lowest all season by a North Dakota opponent. The Mavericks made just one three-pointer for the game, also a season low by a UND opponent. Nebraska-Omaha was 1-of-14 from three-point range during the game. UND committed just five turnovers in the second half, after turning the ball over 10 times in the first half.
Nine players scored between two and nine points for UND in the second half, with Mario Porter's nine leading all second-half scorers. Nebraska-Omaha's two All-NCC players, Adam Wetzel and Alvin Mitchell, scored just four combined points in the game and made just one of 15 field goals between them. Eddie King led the Mavericks with 15 points and Tola Dada had 12.
UND started the game by making just one of its first 10 field goal attempts, and Nebraska-Omaha jumped out to a 14-2 lead in the game's first 6:30. The Mavericks led 16-4 after nine minutes.
Beasley got the Sioux back in it, scoring 11 points in one 3:30 stretch, as UND went on a 15-5 run to close the margin to 21-19 with 6:48 to play in the half.
UND shot just 36.7 percent (11-of-30) from the field in the half, but came back to shoot 48.4 percent (15-of-31) in the second to finish the game at 42.6 percent (26-of-61).
Beasley was the only UND player to score in double figures. Porter had nine points, Josh Johnson had eight, and Robert Lolar and Ryan Walker each added seven points.
Official Basketball Box Score
North Dakota vs Nebraska-Omaha
3/1/02 6 p.m. at Brookings, S.D. - Frost Arena
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VISITORS: North Dakota 19-9
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
32 Ryan Walker......... f 3-7 1-3 0-0 3 3 6 4 7 2 1 0 2 27
42 Josh Johnson........ f 3-4 0-0 2-2 4 0 4 2 8 2 0 0 0 22
54 Jerome Beasley...... c 11-23 1-1 0-2 2 12 14 1 23 1 2 1 2 36
05 Mario Porter........ g 3-7 1-3 2-4 2 1 3 3 9 1 6 1 0 27
30 Jeff Brandt......... g 1-9 0-3 4-4 1 5 6 3 6 2 1 1 2 23
14 Mike Johnson........ 0-0 0-0 2-4 0 2 2 3 2 0 0 0 0 13
20 Jade Jahner......... 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 3 3 0 0 4 1 0 0 12
24 Robert Lolar........ 3-7 0-1 1-1 0 4 4 3 7 4 1 0 2 19
34 Nigel Jenkins....... 1-3 1-3 0-0 0 2 2 3 3 2 3 0 1 17
40 Jerrid Sebesta...... 1-1 0-0 1-1 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 4
Team................ 1 1 2
Totals.............. 26-61 4-14 12-19 13 33 46 22 68 18 15 3 9 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-30 36.7% 2nd Half: 15-31 48.4% Game: 42.6% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-7 14.3% 2nd Half: 3-7 42.9% Game: 28.6% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 1-1 100 % 2nd Half: 11-18 61.1% Game: 63.2% 3
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HOME TEAM: Nebraska-Omaha 23-8
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
42 Tola Dada........... f 6-13 0-0 0-0 5 5 10 1 12 0 0 0 0 26
44 Dan Morrow.......... f 0-4 0-4 0-0 1 0 1 0 0 2 1 0 1 13
55 Adam Wetzel......... c 0-4 0-0 1-2 3 3 6 4 1 1 1 3 0 20
11 Alvin Mitchell...... g 1-11 0-5 1-2 1 2 3 2 3 3 3 0 3 35
23 Eddie King.......... g 5-5 0-0 5-6 3 3 6 4 15 2 3 0 2 22
10 Eric Wiebers........ 0-3 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 7
12 Seth Nelson......... 2-7 1-3 0-0 0 2 2 3 5 3 1 0 3 28
32 Al Lainio........... 1-3 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 12
33 Corey Hahn.......... 3-9 0-0 5-12 0 8 8 1 11 2 2 1 1 25
40 James Mills......... 2-5 0-1 0-0 1 2 3 1 4 0 0 0 0 12
TEAM................ 1 1 2
Totals.............. 20-64 1-14 12-22 16 26 42 19 53 13 12 4 10 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-34 32.4% 2nd Half: 9-30 30.0% Game: 31.3% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-7 14.3% 2nd Half: 0-7 0.0% Game: 7.1% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 6-8 75.0% 2nd Half: 6-14 42.9% Game: 54.5% 5
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Officials: Tom Mauer, Gary Putz, Duane Fiala
Technical fouls: North Dakota-None. Nebraska-Omaha-None.
Attendance: 2833
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
North Dakota.................. 24 44 - 68
Nebraska-Omaha................ 29 24 - 53
North Central Conference Wells Fargo Finals semifinal game.
UND advances to play winner of St. Cloud State/South Dakota State game
Championship game at 7 p.m. Saturday at Frost Arena