The Valley City State University Vikings of the NAIA came to town on Wednesday to play the University of North Dakota men’s basketball team. 

At the first television timeout, the Hawks led 11-7 and standout forward BJ Omot (So.) had already hit a pair of threes. 

Knowing his squad would be significantly undersized in the matchup, Viking coach Dave Montgomery had his squad sit in a zone on the defensive end to combat the mismatch.  

Throughout the game, the Viking zone was able to give UND fits. The Fighting Hawks committed seven turnovers during the first half of Wednesday’s game. 

The opportunity to play a zone team allowed the Hawks to further mesh its offensive unit, effectively moving the ball across its halfcourt sets and getting consistent looks at the rim.  

VCSU was able to hang with the Hawks for most of the first half, until UND went on a 25-4 run to close out the first 20 minutes of play.  

The second half would be much of the same story, with Treysen Eaglestaff (So.) burying three shots from beyond the arc within the first four minutes of the half.  

The Hawks would never look back, with the score not getting closer than a 19-point deficit for the rest of the game.  

11 Hawks saw the court on Wednesday, allowing head coach Paul Sather to get looks at different lineups and players before the schedule picks up and conference play begins. 

After only scoring four points in the first two outings, highly anticipated transfer Eli King (So.) was able to show flashes of why Hawk fans were so excited for his arrival. King scored 14 points on 5/7 shooting, canning both of his shots downtown and snagging a season high 8 rebounds. 

Eaglestaff and Omot both had 17 points for the Hawks, with Omot adding seven rebounds. 

Mambourou Mara (Fr.) continued to build on his impressive start to the freshman campaign, adding 12 points off the bench for UND. The Hawks had five players score double digits. 

The Fighting Hawks move to 2-1 with the win and travel to Stockton, California next Monday to face off against the Pacific Tigers (1-2) in a non-conference game. 

UND’s next home game will be against the New Orleans Privateers on Nov 25 at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. 

Garrett Webber is a Dakota Student General Reporter. He can be reached at [email protected].