By Jeff Kolpack
The Forum
North Dakota State is going the wrong way down a one-way street. Friday night, the Bison ran into a pair of headlights and they weren't mounted on BMX bikes.
They were on trucks. Chad Mustard and Kyle Behrens were 18 wheels to NDSU's unicycle underneath. Combined with Hunter Berg on the perimeter, the Bison were no match for the University of North Dakota, which took an 84-62 North Central Conference men's basketball victory before 5,506 fans at the Bison Sports Arena.
The visiting team won for the fourth straight time in this series. More importantly, the victory kept the Sioux in the upper echelon of the league at 6-4. The Bison dropped to 6-4, but it was their third straight loss - not the time of the year to start sliding.
"Everything we tried ... we couldn't seem to get into things," said Bison coach Ray Giacoletti.
The Bison had no answer for UND's weapons. They could not match the 6-foot-7 Mustard's 27 points, 9 rebounds and 240 pounds of strength. They had trouble with the 6-9 Behrens, who finished with 14 points - including the first two 3-point field goals of his career, both of which helped the Sioux forge a 13-point first-half lead.
"If I had an open look I was going to take it, but it's not exactly my main focus," Behrens said.
That was Berg's focus. He had 20 points on 4-of-5 shooting from beyond the arc. The Sioux shot 56 percent from the field, hitting 30 of 54 shots. But if there was a microcosm of this game, it came at the free-throw line. The Sioux were 17 of 18; the Bison 14 of 29.
"They need to step up and believe they can hit them," Giacoletti said. "There's nothing I can do about it."
There was not much the Bison could do against Mustard and Behrens, who were 8 of 10 from the field in the first half. In a rousing curtain call, Mustard was unstoppable in the second half when the Sioux never let the Bison into the game.
"He hit some tough shots," said NDSU forward Danny English of Mustard. "He brought his 'A' game today."
Said Giacoletti: "We tried doubling down on him but they had three shooters in the game. I don't know how we could stop him tonight, to be honest."
The Sioux took control in the final six minutes of the first half. A 12-2 run started with a Behrens 3-pointer and ended with a Marcus Travis lay-up on a fast break and a 28-20 lead.
The Bison got a brief respite with a Jeromy Thompson running dunk. But the Sioux followed with nine straight, five by Berg, for a 37-24 advantage.
Blaine Ristvedt's basket and two free throws gave UND a 41-28 halftime lead. It was a lame half for the Bison and they never recovered.
"This shows we can play two halves of basketball," Mustard said.
The Bison came out a little sharper in the first minutes of the second half. They hit their first seven shots and showed signs of making a game of it. Still, Berg nailed a 3-pointer and a short jumper to keep the lead in double digits.
It remained that way.
"We're less panicky and more confident this year," Berg said. "We hit some big baskets."
NORTH DAKOTA (12-7, 6-4 NCC): Berg 6-10 4-4 20, Jacobson 2-5 2-2 6, Travis 1-7 0-1 2, Mustard 12-18 3-3 27, Behrens 4-5 4-4 14, Larson 2-3 2-2 7, Ristvedt 2-2 2-2 6, Badding 0-0 0-0 0, Reinke 1-4 0-0 2. Totals 30-54 17-18 84.
NORTH DAKOTA STATE (12-7, 6-4 NCC): Prescott 5-11 3-6 14, Hedin 2-4 3-6 7, Retzlaff 3-8 0-0 7, Hodges 3-5 2-7 8, English 5-10 3-4 13, Snowden 0-1 0-0 0, Majkrzak 2-4 1-2 5, Thompson 1-3 0-0 2, Silk 2-3 2-4 6. Totals 23-49 14-29 62.
Halftime: UND 41, NDSU 38. 3-point goals: UND 7-16 (Berg 4-5, Behrens 2-2, Larson 1-2, Reinke 0-1, Jacobson 0-2, Travis 0-4), NDSU 2-12 (Prescott 1-4, Retzlaff 1-3, Snowden 0-1, Hedin 0-1, Thompson 0-1, Majkrzak 0-2). Fouled out: Silk. Rebounds: UND 30 (Mustard 9), NDSU 36 (Hodges 6). Assists: UND 14 (Berg 4), NDSU 8 (Retzlaff 3). Steals: UND 7 (Mustard 3), NDSU 6 (Hedin 3). Total fouls: UND 22, NDSU 19. Turnovers: UND 16 (Larson 4), NDSU 16 (Hedin 5). A-5,506.