The Sioux, solid from start to finish, upended Nebraska-Omaha 86-74 on Friday night at Sapp Fieldhouse, a North Central Conference win that kept their NCAA Division II playoff hopes alive.
The win improved UND's road NCC record to 6-2. If the Sioux had not dropped four home games this season, they'd be leading the NCC and preparing for the North Central Region postseason tournament.
Instead, UND (11-6 NCC, 17-9 overall) needs to beat Northern Colorado tonight in Greeley and receive help from other teams in the region.
If the Sioux do qualify as the sixth -- and final -- seed from the North Central Region, they won't mind if they have to play on the road. Perhaps, they'd prefer it.
"These guys are focused pretty well on the road,"UND coach Rich Glas said."Maybe at home they try too hard."
Marcus Travis was focused. So were Kyle Behrens and Hunter Reinke. Travis scored a team-high 22 points, including six 3-pointers as he continually got open looks because of Nebraska-Omaha's full-court defense.
"I guess they didn't think I could shoot from out there,"Travis said."I was feeling it. I was in that zone."
The Sioux also received major contributions from Kyle Behrens (21 points) and Hunter Reinke, who only scored two points but grabbed 14 rebounds. Behrens' play in the first half (13 points) was critical because Chad Mustard (14) was in foul trouble.
The Sioux never trailed and forged a 37-27 lead on a Behrens' tip-in with 3:07 left in the first half. The Mavericks, however, cut that margin to seven (41-34) at the break. The final two minutes of the first half proved to be the only time UND's game lacked sharpness.
The Mavericks, led by Corey Griffin (19), cut the UND lead to six (60-54) with 11:22 to go. But the Sioux responded with an 11-2 run to gain control. Tom Jacobson's 3-pointer started the run. Jacobson had another trey in the run, one of 12 UND 3-pointers.
The Sioux made 12 of 23 3-pointers."They were pressing us and weren't able to get back and defend,"Glas said the quick-shooting Sioux. We had guys step up and make plays."
UND made 56 percent of its shots, compared to Nebraska-Omaha's 38 percent. Its hot shooting never allowed the Mavericks to make a run.
A win tonight would finish UND's regular season at 18-9. But will it be good enough to make the playoffs? A lot depends on what happens in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference tournament this weekend.
The Sioux, however, believe their chances are good if they win and receive some luck.
"Everything has to work right for us,"Glas said."But we have to first take care of our business."
| UND (86) | |||
| Name | FG | FT | Points |
| Mustard | 6-8 | 2-5 | 14 |
| Travis | 8-14 | 0-0 | 22 |
| Behrens | 8-12 | 5-5 | 21 |
| Berg | 4-8 | 1-2 | 10 |
| Larson | 2-4 | 0-0 | 6 |
| Jacobson | 3-5 | 0-1 | 9 |
| Ristvedt | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Badding | 1-2 | 0-0 | 2 |
| Reinke | 0-2 | 2-3 | 2 |
| Totals | 32-57 | 10-16 | 86 |
| UNO (74) | |||
| Voss | 4-11 | 2-2 | 14 |
| Jones | 1-4 | 0-0 | 2 |
| Griffin | 8-16 | 3-3 | 19 |
| Ausley | 1-2 | 0-0 | 2 |
| Simons | 3-9 | 0-0 | 8 |
| Lainio | 0-4 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Hahn | 3-3 | 3-3 | 10 |
| Wettstein | 5-14 | 3-4 | 13 |
| Trapkus | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Foltnyski | 3-6 | 0-0 | 6 |
| Allen | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Mann | 0-3 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Totals | 28-73 | 11-12 | 74 |