The UND men's basketball team hit a road bump midway through the second half, a jolt that broke the Sioux cruise control. What had been a relatively easy journey turned difficult.
The jolt, however, wasn't enough to bump UND out of the North Central Conference men's basketball race.
UND did enough things well down the stretch to take an 83-72 win over Morningside on Friday night before 2,174 fans at Hyslop Sports Center.
The win kept UND (7-4 NCC, 13-7 overall) in the NCC title race. And the Sioux will play their biggest game of the season tonight against league-leading South Dakota (10-2, 18-3). The Coyotes pounded North Dakota State 89-61 in Fargo on Friday night.
"This is one more step in what we're trying to do as a team, and that's win this conference,"said UND center Chad Mustard, who scored 26 points in his fourth straight dominating inside performance.
The Sioux, after their 10-0 run helped open a 40-30 halftime lead, led by 15 after Kyle Behrens' 3-pointer put UND up 48-33 with 17:31 remaining. A few minutes later, however, the Sioux hit the road bump.
Morningside's zone slowed the Sioux offense and some less-than-sparkling UND free-throw shooting (20 of 33) allowed the Mustangs to hang around longer than expected. Morningside, however, never came closer than eight points in the second half.
"We hit the key shots,"said UND's Marcus Travis, who scored 17 points in one of his best performances of the season."When they got the lead under double digits, we were able to hit our shots."
UND, however, was consistent throughout on defense, especially on the perimeter. Morningside, one of the best 3-point shooting teams in the NCC, made only 4 of 18 from beyond the arc as the Sioux defense rarely gave the Mustangs a good look at the basket.
"If you give that team open looks, they'll hit those shots,"Mustard said.
While Mustard controlled the inside game, Travis and point guard Hunter Berg (15) had a handle on the perimeter. And Berg, as usual, handled the full-court press the Sioux saw for much of the second half.
"We struggled a bit in the second half,"UND coach Rich Glas said."But in the last few minutes we executed things well. We got a couple of back-door baskets and came up with some big rebounds.
"We weren't able to put a big run together, but we didn't give up a big run, either."
And the Sioux can't give up any big runs tonight against South Dakota, the best 3-point shooting team in NCAA Division II basketball.
"This win sets the stage for South Dakota,"Travis said."This builds our confidence."
The Sioux beat South Dakota last month in Vermillion, S.D. UND held the Coyotes to only five 3-pointers, a big factor in its 86-83 win.
"It's a huge game,"Glas said."If (South Dakota) beats us, it's probably all over for everybody in the conference. But we're looking forward to the challenge."
| UND (83) | |||
| Name | FG | FT | Points |
| Mustard | 10-16 | 6-10 | 26 |
| Travis | 4-9 | 7-12 | 17 |
| Behrens | 3-9 | 0-0 | 7 |
| Berg | 4-8 | 6-7 | 15 |
| Jacobson | 2-4 | 0-2 | 5 |
| Larson | 0-3 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Ristvedt | 1-3 | 0-0 | 2 |
| Reinke | 2-5 | 1-2 | 7 |
| Badding | 2-4 | 0-0 | 4 |
| Totals | 28-61 | 20-33 | 83 |
| Morningside (72) | |||
| Barber | 5-16 | 3-5 | 14 |
| Musick | 1-3 | 5-7 | 7 |
| West | 4-11 | 5-6 | 13 |
| Drevo | 6-12 | 1-1 | 14 |
| Wooten | 2-5 | 3-3 | 7 |
| Madole | 1-1 | 1-2 | 3 |
| Hogan | 1-2 | 0-0 | 2 |
| Timm | 3-8 | 2-2 | 10 |
| Van Meeteren | 1-2 | 0-0 | 2 |
| Totals | 24-60 | 20-26 | 72 |