BISMARCK -- A big second half carried UND to an easy 86-58 men's basketball victory over the University of Mary on Friday night at the Bismarck Civic Center. The Sioux point guard carried much of the load.
Hunter Berg, UND's lone all-conference selection a year ago, had a perfect night from the field as he led the Sioux with 23 points in their season opener. The senior point guard made all eight of his field goal attempts and was perfect on all four of his free throw attempts. He also had three assists.
"Hunter was an example of a guy stepping on the court and getting it done," UND coach Rich Glas said.
The Sioux led 31-21 at halftime, thanks to a 13-2 run midway through the opening 20 minutes. UND's offense was sluggish for stretches of the half, but the Marauders couldn't get anything going because of their 18 turnovers.
But UND dominated most of the second half, outscoring Mary 55-37. "We were disappointed with the start of the second half," Glas said. "They scored on four straight possessions. But after we called a quick timeout, we stopped them."
A Kurt Schwamp basket pulled Mary to within 37-29 with 17:59 to play. But the Sioux responded with a 13-3 run, highlighted by back-to-back baskets by freshman Brandon Badding, who finished with 10 points.
Badding played 17 minutes, which the Sioux needed because of the ankle injury to starting forward Hunter Reinke, who may not play for another week.
"Brandon made some shots," Glas said.
But the Sioux coach was most pleased with UND's rock-solid defense, which helped force Mary into 30 turnovers.
"We played well defensively the whole game," Glas said. "Offensively, it was about what we expected. We got a 17-6 lead (on a 13-2 run), but then we converted on only four of our next 19 possessions. We just missed some shots."
The Sioux received 22 points from Chad Mustard, who carried the scoring load early. Marcus Travis, in a steady performance, added 10 as did Badding.
Despite some offensive lapses, UND still managed to shoot well from the field. The Sioux were 21 of 30 in the second half.
Schwamp was the only Mary player in double figures (21). No other Marauder scored more than 9 points as Mary dropped to 1-1.
The Sioux play host to Valley City State on Tuesday night at Hyslop Sports Center.
| UND (86) | |||
| Name | FG | FT | Points |
| Mustard | 8-16 | 6-7 | 22 |
| Travis | 4-7 | 2-4 | 10 |
| Behrens | 2-7 | 2-3 | 6 |
| Berg | 8-8 | 4-4 | 23 |
| Larson | 1-6 | 2-2 | 5 |
| Jacobson | 2-3 | 0-0 | 4 |
| Ristvedt | 1-5 | 0-0 | 2 |
| Badding | 4-5 | 2-4 | 10 |
| Bernhardt | 1-4 | 0-0 | 2 |
| Sheplee | 1-1 | 0-0 | 2 |
| Totals | 32-59 | 18-24 | 86 |
| Mary (58) | |||
| Ruffin | 1-3 | 0-1 | 2 |
| Kellogg | 3-6 | 3-4 | 9 |
| Schwamp | 8-14 | 5-8 | 21 |
| Koolman | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Sheldon | 0-3 | 1-2 | 1 |
| Goracke | 0-5 | 2-2 | 2 |
| Parker | 1-3 | 0-2 | 2 |
| Welstad | 2-3 | 0-0 | 6 |
| Thompson | 2-4 | 1-3 | 7 |
| Hill | 1-3 | 0-0 | 2 |
| Schommer | 1-2 | 0-0 | 2 |
| Gross | 2-2 | 0-0 | 4 |
| Welstad | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Czarnecki | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Totals | 21-50 | 12-22 | 58 |