After a brief road trip out west, the UND men’s basketball team hosted the Portland Pilots looking to snap a two-game losing streak. The Pilots would have something to say about that. 

Two days prior, the Pilots spent the night in Fargo, losing to NDSU 78-67. 

Right out of the gate, Portland showed that they were determined to leave North Dakota with a victory. The Pilots started the game on an 8-0 run, featuring two three-pointers. 

UND was able to respond with an 8-0 run of their own to tie the game.  

Portland would then go on another 8-0 run to take a 16-8 lead five minutes into the contest. 

The two sides would trade runs for the rest of the half, and the Hawks were able to earn a 36-33 lead after 20 minutes of play. 

Four minutes into the second half, the Pilots retook the lead with a three-point jumper. The Hawks would fight back, but Portland began to take firm control of the bout. With 10 minutes left in the game, the road team held a 60-54 lead. 

Portland did not surrender the lead for the rest of the game. The game remained competitive until the very end, but Vukasin Masic led the way for the Pilots with 21 second half points. Masic ended the game with 32 points, a season high for the Portland guard. 

The Portland Pilots defeated UND with a score of 83-72, outscoring the Hawks by 14 points in the second half. 

Portland was able to shoot an effective 48.3% from the field against the Hawks. 

UND turned the ball over 14 times on Saturday, and the Pilots scored 14 points off of those turnovers. With the loss, UND falls to 6-4 overall, dropping three in a row. 

Tsotne Tsartsidze led the Hawks in scoring, notching 18 points on 6/14 shooting. 

BJ Omot added 17 points for UND, leading the team in assists as well with five. 

Treysen Eaglestaff scored 15 points and four rebounds for the home team. 

Eli King struggled on Saturday, scoring three points on 1/8 shooting with two turnovers. King grabbed seven rebounds. 

The UND bench unit was only able to total seven points against Portland, committing five turnovers total.  

The Hawks will begin conference play on December 29th at home against the St. Thomas Tommies (5-4).  

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