by Josh McSwain
KANSAS CITY – The North Dakota men’s basketball team got back in the win column on Saturday night with an 81-73 win at the Kansas City Roos, downing their Summit League opponent for the second time this season. Brady Danielson led the Hawks with a career high 20 points, including 11-13 from the foul line. B.J. Omot went 13-14 from the foul line as he poured in 19 points. Jalun Trent led the Hawks in rebounds with seven and in assists with three.
Treysen Eaglestaff scored 15 points for the second game in a row, including 11 in the first half to lead the team at the break. Tsotne Tsartsidze scored 14 to reach double figures for the tenth straight game.
Early on points were hard to come by for the Hawks, who only had 12 midway through the first half. With 8:07 to go UND found themselves down 19-13, but from there the tables turned. Elijah Brooks started an 11-0 run with two free throws, then Tsartsidze made a jumper, Eaglestaff had back to back driving layups to take the lead and Brooks capped it off with a three point play. In the last 8-plus minutes the Hawks outscored the Roos 22-8 and took a 35-27 lead into the intermission.
After making 11 straight threes to open the first game against Kansas City earlier this season, UND did not make their first three until the very end of the first half when Eaglestaff connected from deep. Overall UND shot 41.4% from the floor in the first half. Despite trailing for over 13 minutes to begin the game, the Hawks took the lead with 5:46 left in the half and did not relinquish the lead for the rest of the game.
While the Hawks would lead by double digits in the second half, the Roos would not go down easy. With 3:50 to go, a three pointer from the Roos made it a 67-66 game. With momentum swinging towards the hosts, UND needed to stop the run and Danielson gave UND breathing room with two foul shots. Kansas City came right back with another basket to draw within one but Omot followed with back-to-back three pointers and put UND up seven with 1:49 to go. The second proved to be the decisive basket as the Roos would not get any closer than four the rest of the way.
North Dakota will return home for the final two games of the regular season this coming week as they host Western Illinois and St. Thomas this Thursday and Saturday.
