by Josh McSwain
TULSA, Okla. – The North Dakota men’s basketball team got a balanced effort Saturday night with 20 points from B.J. Omot, 17 from Treysen Eaglestaff, 13 from Tyree Ihenacho and 11 from Eli King to defeat Oral Roberts 78-65 on Saturday night at Mabee Arena. It is the second time that the Fighting Hawks have gotten consecutive wins against the Golden Eagles (2/6/20 and 1/8/21) and first time that NoDak has gotten a season sweep.
Amar Kuljuhovic led UND with 13 rebounds, while Ihenacho and Kuljuhovic tied with three assists. Ihenacho blocked four shots to set a new career high, and Eli King grabbed a team high four steals.
Eaglestaff got the scoring started for UND with two layups, and from there the Fighting Hawks never looked back. ORU chipped away to make it a six-point game at 24-18 with just under nine minutes to go in the first half, but from there the green and white went on a 10-0 run to expand the lead to 16 points. Ihenacho drained a three, Eaglestaff hit three from the line and Eaglestaff and Kuljuhovic hit baskets to grab what would be the biggest lead of the game to that point. UND saw out the rest of the first half and took a 43-28 lead into intermission.
In the second half NoDak would lead by as many as 19, which came following a layup by Eaglestaff with 15:56 remaining. Later in the half the Golden Eagles pulled within five at 55-50 as Isaac McBride completed a three-point play. But UND answered with six straight points from Omot and kept ORU at bay. With 1:59 to go it was an eight-point game at 67-59, but the Fighting Hawks closed the game on an 11-6 run to seal the victory.
