by Jacob Pumphrey
GRAND FORKS, N.D. – North Dakota, willed by a 29-point effort from junior guard Treysen Eaglestaff, nearly came all the way back from a 22-point second half deficit, but the late surge came up short as Denver fended off the Fighting Hawks to earn a 68-64 Summit League victory on Thursday night inside the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.
The Hawks managed to overcome a sluggish first half of play that saw the host down 16 at the break. Eaglestaff hit a three to pull UND to back under 20 just prior to the under-16 media of the second half and then again from the far wing that brought UND to within 17 as the second half clock dipped under 14 minutes.
Two minutes later, Eaglestaff got lost drifting back to the far wing and hammered another trifecta on as assist from junior forward Dariyus Woodson to cut the lead to 13 points. Woodson then got in on the scoring act with a nice step-through finish and he converted the free throw as the Denver lead was trimmed to ten at 53-43 with 11:04 to play.
A handful of possessions later, senior forward Amar Kuljuhovic, who finished with 17 points and eight rebounds, found Eaglestaff inside and the Bismarck native finished the contacted basket and got the free throw to go as the Hawks pulled to within nine points of the Pioneers’ advantage.
Junior guard Eli King then turned in two buckets on consecutive possessions to bring the UND to five points of Denver. An Eaglestaff three, a tough drive to the rack by Kuljuhovic and a block by sophomore guard Panoam with the Pioneers leading by just two gave the Hawks a chance with 90 seconds to go. Eaglestaff, with UND down 64-61, finished off glass to sit a bucket back of the lead, but the Pioneers finished off UND at the stripe, while a three-point attempt by the Hawks with under 15 seconds left just missed.
Early turnovers did more than slow the Hawks offensively through the under-16 media, but spawned a near 11-minute scoring drought, specifically one that lasted 10:44, until Panoam managed to get one of six field goals of the first half to fall. UND shot just 24.0% from the floor with its two biggest makes coming from the stroke of Eaglestaff who knocked down a pair of threes.
Denver’s opening twenty minutes had its moments as the Pioneers built a 35-19 halftime lead, behind a 15-3 run that spanned nearly 10 minutes and coincided with the Hawks’ shooting woes.
In the first half, Denver played at +12 in paint scoring, +8 in fastbreak points and received nearly half of its offensive production from its bench. Both sides struggled protecting the basketball as a combined 25 turnovers were committed resulting in a collective 16 points.
Postgame Notes
- The 19 first-half points by the Hawks are the lowest in an opening twenty since scoring 14 in last season’s Summit League opener against St. Thomas
- Eaglestaff’s six threes are the second most in a game this season, while his 29 points are the seventh 20-point game by the junior this season
