by Josh McSwain
GRAND FORKS, N.D. – The North Dakota men’s basketball team played its first regular season home game Sunday afternoon, defeating the Elon Phoenix 85-68.
Treysen Eaglestaff scored a career high 26 points, hitting five shots from downtown. B.J. Omot notched his first career double-double with 21 points and ten rebounds. Eli King led UND with four assists and three blocks while Deng Mayar led with three steals.
Tsotne Tsartsidze hit the opening bucket from three point range in what was a very fast first seven-plus minutes in the first half. Elon led at the first stoppage behind 15 points early on from Max Mackinnon, but the Fighting Hawks chipped away at the deficit, pulling ahead later in the half at 21-20 behind Omot hitting 2-2 from the foul line. The teams gave and took the lead as the half went on but the Phoenix went into the locker room ahead 39-37. Omot had 11 points at the break, Eaglestaff had ten.
NoDak started the second half on an 8-4 run, taking a lead at 45-43 following an Eaglestaff three that was held for the rest of the game. The lead swelled two ten points at 53-43 as the green and white scored 16 of the first 20 points in the second half. UND led by as many as 21 in the second half a tenacious defensive effort held the Phoenix to 25.8% shooting in the second half—outscoring the Phoenix 48-29 in the second frame.
