Herald Staff Writer
MANKATO, Minn. -- UND may want to rethink its remaining men's basketball schedule.
The Sioux may not want to play at home after their impressive 79-64 North Central Conference win over Minnesota State-Mankato on Saturday night.
UND did everything right in perhaps its best overall performance of the season.
The Sioux improved to 4-3 in the NCC and 15-3 overall. This season, the Sioux are 4-1 on the road and 0-2 at Hyslop Sports Center. The win also capped a weekend road sweep for the Sioux, who won at St. Cloud on Friday night.
"We're a road team," UND senior Marcus Travis said. "We get up for the road games. Everything clicked tonight. Now, we have to carry that home and defend our castle."
UND certainly was the king of Otto Arena for a night. From the start, UND dominated and suffered only one minor lapse late in the game. But the Sioux quickly regained their composure after the Mavericks cut a 19-point deficit to nine with 3:39 to play.
Key points from Chad Mustard, Hunter Reinke and Curtis Munlin, who played his best NCC game of the season, held off the Mankato surge led by Nick Ellenberger (22 points).
"We knew they wouldn't die," Travis said. "We just knew that if we kept doing the things we were doing, we'd be OK."
UND was OK early because of shooting. The Sioux jumped to an 8-0 lead in the first two minutes behind two Travis three-pointers. The lead grew to 18-7 on a Reinke basket with 14:12 left. And UND went up 35-15 on a Brandon Badding basket with 6:24 left in the half.
UND made 65 percent of its first-half shots.
"You can't beat that," Travis said. "That's cash in the bank."
Mankato coach Dan McCarrell, whose team dropped to 5-2 in the NCC and 12-4 overall, said UND's hot shooting was too much to overcome.
"If they hit from the outside, they're really tough because they then become even tougher on the blocks," said McCarrell, referring to UND's inside muscle. "They just played a great game and they never let us get in sync offensively."
UND placed five players in double figures. In addition to Travis, Reinke added 14 points, while Kyle Behrens added 12. Munlin and Tom Jacobson each finished with 11.
UND's offense was in sync because of its balanced shot selection. No player took more than nine attempts.
"We played very well," UND coach Rich Glas said. "We played extremely well on both ends of the floor. Everyone, starters and our players off the bench, did their jobs. They've got a lot of weapons, guys who can hit from the outside and guys who can score inside. But we made it difficult for them to get the opportunities they wanted."
The Sioux held Mankato to 38 percent shooting and outrebounded the Mavericks 38-29.
The weekend left UND with a major dose of confidence as the Sioux return home for games this weekend against South Dakota State and Augustana. The road sweep also helped take the sting out of UND's last home game, an 84-83 setback to Morningside. The Sioux led by 18 points with six minutes to play before stumbling.
"This was a huge weekend," Glas said. "We needed this from the standpoint of our morale. It says a lot for us to sweep on the road against teams that are ranked fifth and sixth in the (North Central Region)."
| UND (79) | |||
| Name | FG | FT | Points |
| Mustard | 4-9 | 1-2 | 9 |
| Travis | 6-9 | 2-2 | 16 |
| Behrens | 3-4 | 5-6 | 12 |
| Munlin | 3-4 | 5-5 | 11 |
| Larson | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 |
| Jacobson | 4-6 | 2-2 | 11 |
| Ristvedt | 0-1 | 2-2 | 2 |
| Badding | 2-5 | 0-0 | 4 |
| Reinke | 6-9 | 0-0 | 14 |
| Totals | 28-49 | 17-20 | 79 |
| Minnesota State (64) | |||
| Ziemke | 1-8 | 0-0 | 3 |
| Siebrands | 2-6 | 0-0 | 4 |
| Elleberger | 9-15 | 4-6 | 22 |
| Carlson | 2-6 | 0-0 | 5 |
| Joerger | 4-10 | 2-2 | 12 |
| Larson | 1-4 | 0-0 | 3 |
| Johnson | 6-16 | 2-3 | 15 |
| Beaudette | 0-1 | 0-0 | 5 |
| Totals | 25-66 | 8-11 | 64 |