UND senior Lenny Antwi dribbles the ball earlier this season. Photo by Nicholas Nelson/The Dakota Student.

When a player is elected captain, they are held to a high standard on the court, especially in the last few minutes of the game.

Last Saturday, Quinton Hooker showed why he is the captain of the UND men’s basketball team in its 63-62 win over Drake.

With time running out and the Green and White down by one point, Hooker called his own number and drove the lane. Showing his athleticism, the captain hit a circus shot with 11.3 seconds to go. The Bulldogs would not capitalize on their final possession of the game.

That was the ballgame — UND 63, Drake 62.

“It’s huge,” Hooker said. “Coach is always saying we need the big road win, and this was it. We had a pretty good Thanksgiving. Didn’t come out the way we wanted to, but we knew that we need to get an actual big win, and Drake, being a good team, we had to come in here, stick together and mature as a team. And that’s what we did tonight.”

There were many signs this team had been maturing throughout the course of the game. Drake started the game on a 10-0 run and then later in the second half was up 42-33. Instead of panicking and moving away from the game plan, the Green and White stuck to what UND coach Brian Jones has taught them, and found ways to get back into the game.

“We were in a situation like this two weeks ago at South Dakota State, and I think our guys learned from that, and we ended up on the right end of the scoreboard today,” Jones said. “We got off to a slow start and could have cashed it in there late when things weren’t going our way, but give our guys credit. They made plays down the stretch; got some steals, made some shots and we needed this one for our confidence.”

Now that the Green and White finally achieved their first road win, they can focus on trying to duplicate that effort in the weeks to come.

The week ahead is arguably one of the biggest parts of the early season schedule.

After the game against University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, UND will travel to Fargo to face off against in-state rival North Dakota State University.

These two teams have developed a nice rivalry over the last couple of seasons, with the series record at 2-2 over the last four seasons.

The last time the two squads met, the Green and White drubbed the Bison, beating them out of the Betty, 95-77.

This time around, the feeling will be different for some players. Last year, after getting blown out by the Green and White, NDSU would go on to make a run into the NCAA March Madness Tournament, a goal UND fell just short of.

Seeing a team they handled in the tournament irked some players.

“It bugged us was the biggest thing, knowing that we were able to beat them,” Hooker said. “But I think it showed that we were definitely able to compete and be at that high level, but that was a little frustrating.”

UND will finally have a home game against Dickinson State on Dec. 19.

Conference play starts on Jan. 1 when UND will face off against Montana State in Bozeman.

Life on the road can be challenging at times, but the young Green and White team is facing that challenge and showing signs of growth in nearly every game.

Alex Stadnik is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected].