After a tough start to the second half, the UND fighting Hawks basketball team fought back to beat Big Sky rival Northern Colorado.

The Hawks weren’t able to get anything going in the first half trailing after the 16:41 and weren’t able to get any closer than 3 points behind but Northern Colorado but UND was able make it close as they cut a 37-30 deficit down to 37-35 to end the half.

Northern Colorado stopped any momentum for the Hawks at the start of the second half by holding the two point lead and also expanding on it.

However it’s not how you start the game its how you finish and UND provided a great example.

Despite not leading at any point in the second half, UND fought back all the way until they tied the game at 64 with 1:47 left to go at the second half thanks to a 10-1 scoring run to close in on Bears.

After exchanging shots in the last minute Quinton Hooker, who put on a clinic with 26 points, hit a clutch double bonus with 9 seconds left to make it 69-67.

Regulation time wasn’t enough though, as a Jordan Davis made a big time lay up with three second remaining to send the game to overtime.

The Hawks fought all the way back to send the game to overtime and they were about to let the comeback fall short as the started overtime by going on a 9-0 run until Northern Colorado thawed itself out with 1:38 remaining with an and one made by Davis again to make it 78-72.

Northern Colorado fought back to make it 83-77 at one point but it was too little too late as UND held on to win the overtime thriller game 87-77.

With the win, UND has gone 9-2 since dropping four in a row back in December. The Hawks are now 10-0 when scoring 80 or more in a game.

Statistically between the two schools, UND now moves to 44-24 against UNC. This also marks the sixth Big Sky Game UND has been down at the half but also the fifth win of those six games. The Hawks also the sixth come from behind win in 11 halftime deficits this weekend.

For Northern Colorado, the loss has them slipping down conference standings dropping 7 of 9 since the start of the new calendar year.

The win marked the first game of a three game home stand for the Hawks as they play host to Eastern Washington Tuesday and Idaho Saturday.

Standings starting to bottle neck in the Big Sky as UND now sits at 8-3 and at second behind only Weber State. The next two games will be crucial as Eastern Washington is at 3rd and Idaho is also in the hunt at 4th.

The Hawks will look to keep the momentum rolling Tuesday when they play host to Eastern Washington as the battle for the Big Sky regular season title keeps going.

Jack Harvey is a staff writer for Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected]