by Jacob Pumphrey
GRAND FORKS, N.D. – North Dakota men’s basketball returned to action on Wednesday night in front of over 1,600 fans inside the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center and the Fighting Hawks claimed an 89-56 exhibition win over Concordia-Moorhead behind a 26-point effort from junior guard Treysen Eaglestaff.
The visiting Cobbers scored the first bucket of the night sixteen seconds into the contest, but a drive to the basket by Eaglestaff tied the game and his own ensuing trifecta, his first of three on the night, gave the Hawks a lead they would not surrender. Eaglestaff hammered another three near the 17-minute mark, while the Hawks battled and weathered the Cobbers’ rebounding effort that had the visitors at +6 in the category in the early going.
Eaglestaff had more than enough help during the midweek affair as sophomore guard Mier Panoam, who finished with 16 points in addition to four rebounds, three assists and a steal in two dozen minutes of work, got in on the scoring action with a contact runner off of a fast break opportunity at the 12-minute mark of the opening half. Moments later, Panoam turned the Cobbers over and assisted senior forward Amar Kuljuhovic on a three-point make at the 11:42 mark of the first half.
That was the first of several impressive sequences by the Hawks in the initial twenty minutes of action. Just prior to the under-8 media, Panoam spun inside and went off glass for a bucket. Eaglestaff followed with a drive into traffic which ended with a back-to-the-glass conversion on a second chance opportunity for the Hawks. UND’s following trip down the hardwood saw Eaglestaff nail a shot from beyond-the-arc as the Hawks advantage grew to 15 at 31-16.
With a 42-29 lead at the intermission, the Hawks controlled the second half which saw an early cross arc helper from Eaglestaff to Panoam who hit a three from the wing at the 18:22 mark of the second half. UND engineered an 8-2 run in-between the first two media breaks of the final twenty minutes as the Hawks lead grew to twenty points at 59-39 and was capped off by a midrange jumper from senior Brian Mathews. That sequence also saw junior guard Reggie Thomas score, pick up a steal near half court and then deliver to senior forward Deng Mayar who finished the fastbreak chance near the rim.
A tough layup and fastbreak three by Kuljuhovic in back-to-back possessions increased UND’s lead to 23, while Eaglestaff delivered a tough finish with the righthand off of a baseline dribble two possessions earlier.
The crowd peaked with just under ten minutes to play as Panoam grabbed a pair of boards after a miss inside and finished with a crowded make and a free throw to convert the and-1.
The Hawks turned to a young five late in the contest with four redshirt freshmen (Anthony Doppler, Ryan Erikson, Matthew Bothun, Zach Kraft) and a true freshman (Greyson Uelmen) teaming up over the game’s final three-plus minutes. Uelmen delivered a helper to redshirt freshman Matthew Bothun who hit a three to get things started in that final sequence. Redshirt freshman Ryan Erikson snagged a contested board and netted the second-chance bucket and Uelmen spun inside and laid an attempt off glass for an impressive basket. The stamp on the win came with forty seconds to play as Bothun nailed a corner three.
