by Josh McSwain
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The North Dakota men’s basketball team got their first win in the Summit League Tournament since March of 2020 with an 83-68 victory over Denver Friday night. Matt Norman led the way for the Hawks with 25 points to tie his season high, with Brady Danielson pouring in 13 and Treysen Eaglestaff providing a spark off the bench with 15. Tsotne Tsartsidze led the team with seven rebounds while Eaglestaff provided a season high eight assists.
The Hawks pulled away with a big second half, outscoring the Pioneers 52-41. Norman had 14 points in the second half while B.J. Omot scored all eight of his points in the second half. As a team the Hawks shot 58.8% from the floor in the second half as well as 50% from three-point range.
Early on, the pace of the game favored Denver as points were hard to come by for both sides. Norman’s first three gave the Hawks a 5-2 lead 2:17 seconds into the game, but at 13:07 the Pioneers held a 13-7 lead. Norman scored the next five points for the Hawks to bring them within one, but Denver pushed back to go up 17-12.
Norman’s hot stroke continued as he hit another three to spark a 7-0 run for UND, capped off with a layup by Elijah Brooks off a steal by Eaglestaff. With 2:23 left in the half the score was tied at 25, but a three point play from Danielson and then a basket from downtown off the hand of the senior lefty gave the Hawks a 31-27 lead and the momentum headed into intermission. During the first half, UND held a 9-2 edge in points off turnovers and shot 42% from the floor.
Denver came out of the locker room hot to start the second half, taking a 38-37 lead with 15:47 to go. Tsartsidze, who had run into foul trouble in the first half, made his first three of the game to put UND back on top. Norman followed with another three to quickly put UND back up five. Denver would not go down easy, but UND’s hot shooting from the floor kept the Pioneers at bay and then with 9:01 to go Eaglestaff drilled one from downtown to give UND their first double digit lead at 59-49. Then in transition Omot brought the house town with an alley-oop from Eaglestaff. Denver got back to within nine afterwards but a three from Norman with seven minutes left put the Hawks up by double digits for good.
