by By Josh McSwain
OMAHA, Neb. – The North Dakota men’s basketball team fell 79-61 at Omaha Thursday night, falling to 0-3 in the Summit League.
Treysen Eaglestaff led the Fighting Hawks with 15 points, hitting four times from downtown. Amar Kuljuhovic led the team with 11 rebounds, notching his third double-double of the season with ten points. B.J. Omot also scored in double figures with 12.
Tyree Ihenacho got the scoring started, but UND could not hold the lead as the Mavericks pulled ahead. Down 20-8, the Fighting Hawks reeled off 12 straight points to tie the game. Tsotne Tsartsidze got the run started with a three and with 7:37 left two foul shots from B.J. Omot tie the game at 20. Later a three from Eaglestaff at 5:57 gave UND a 25-24 lead, their first since 6-5 at the 16:06 mark. From a 33-33 tie, NoDak gave up eight of the last nine points of the first half and trailed 41-34 at intermission.
Out of the break Kuljuhovic went 1-2 from the line to pull UND within six at 41-35, which was the closest the Fighting Hawks would come at any point in the second half. At 13:23 a layup by Tsartsidze made it 47-41, but from there the green and white would not get any closer.
