The UND men’s basketball team held Tommy Bruner, the leading scorer in Division 1, to 11 points on Thursday and defeated the Denver Pioneers with a score of 92-78. Treysen Eaglestaff (So.) was the main event of the night, putting up a career-high 33 points and leading the Hawks to a crucial road victory.
The game was tightly contested throughout the first half with six lead changes.
Midway through the half, Eli King (So.) found BJ Omot (So) barreling down the lane. Omot took the pass and put 7’0” center Isaiah Carr on a poster to give the Hawks a 15-11 lead.
With one second left and a 38-37 lead, Paul Sather called a timeout. Out of the timeout, Tyree Ihenacho found King in the corner for a wide open three as the buzzer sounded to give UND a four-point lead going into the break.
In the middle of the second half, Denver regained the lead 54-52. After the two sides traded buckets, Eaglestaff continued his dominant night with a triple to keep UND in the game.
With the score knotted at 66, Eaglestaff stepped up again with another deep three to give the Hawks a lead they would not relinquish for the rest of the game.
Eaglestaff and the Hawks were able to pull away and defeat the Pioneers 92-78, sweeping Denver on the season.
Eaglestaff led UND in scoring with 33 points, burying five shots from beyond the arc.
King had his best outing as a Hawk, scoring a career-high 18 points off the bench. King hit four three-pointers, all of which came in the first half. The Iowa State transfer added a pair of blocks and steals as well.
Ihenacho had 16 points and led UND in assists with four.
Amar Kuljuhovic continued to be a double-double machine, scoring 10 points and grabbing 14 rebounds for the Hawks.
Omot did not have his usual production on the offensive end but contributed defensively with three blocks. He bounced back on Saturday, when he scored 20 points to help lead UND over the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles with a score of 78-65.
With the win, UND sits atop the Summit League, half a game ahead of South Dakota State University.
UND’s next game will be a rematch of the epic battle from two weeks ago against NDSU. The Hawks will travel to Fargo to face off against their in-state rival on Saturday at 1 p.m. on the CBS Sports Network.
UND’s next home game will be on Thursday, Feb. 29 against South Dakota State at 7 p.m. Tickets are free to UND students in their green and white account.
Garrett Webber is a Dakota Student Section Editor. He can be reached at [email protected].
