UND men’s basketball can’t overcome North Dakota State in five-point loss

FARGO — UND coach Paul Sather likened this year’s Fighting Hawks team to a scene from the 1994 movie Shawshank Redemption.

“Sometimes you have to crawl through a mile of you know what to get to the other side,” he said after UND’s 87-82 loss at North Dakota State on Saturday evening at the Sanford Health Athletic Complex.

UND lost its sixth Summit League game this season, sitting at 2-6 through the first half of conference play.

The Hawks had numerous chances to take the lead against the Bison. Treysen Eaglestaff hit a 3-pointer to come within two points, 76-74, with under four minutes left in the game — just after Mier Panoam, who had 11 points in the loss, fouled out of the game.

Mambourou Mara fouled out with 1:05 left to play.

Dariyus Woodson hit a triple to cut NDSU’s lead to 83-81 with 14.5 seconds left.

Deng Mayar then fouled out, sending Tajavis Miller to the line. Miller extended the Bison’s lead back to four.

Eaglestaff missed a late three, but Amar Kuljuhovic was fouled.

Kuljuhovic went 1-for-2 from the line with four seconds left — UND was 21-for-35 from the free-throw line — and it was too late for the Hawks to answer.

“There were missed opportunities throughout for us,” Sather said. “They’re a very good team. They put you in defensive positions that are difficult, challenging. I thought our guys’ effort and energy was pretty good throughout the game. We had some lapses here and there. As far as how we wanted to guard them and how we wanted to play against them, I think it was the right way.”

The Bison improved to 16-6 and 5-2 in the Summit League, winning their last five straight.

For NDSU coach Dave Richman, free throws and defensive stops were the difference in the game.

“Treysen Eaglestaff is such a talented player, you put a lot of focus on a guy like that,” he said. “So all of a sudden you start getting spread out a little bit. We let them get downhill a lot, and we finally got some stops.”

Both teams shot 41% from the field, but 48 of the Bison’s 58 shot attempts came from 3-point range — a school record for most attempted threes.

UND went 9-for-29 (31%) from range, while NDSU was 16-for-48 (33%).

“I think we still might be taking threes out there right now,” Richman said.

NDSU was led by Jacksen Moni, who ended with a double-double (24 points, 10 rebounds). Jacari White added 20 points, and Miller had 17 points and seven boards.

Eli King grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds in the loss.

In the first half, Eaglestaff, who led UND with 22 points, missed back-to-back looks from three. UND assistant coach Jamie Stevens took Eaglestaff out of the game.

Eaglestaff started to take over in the second half, driving to the basket more in an effort to grab the win.

“I don’t usually get a lot of open looks like that, so I was just mad at myself,” he said. “So second half, I was just like, ‘OK, I don’t know why I care so much about if I get taken out or not. I’m a vet, just grow up and play basketball.’ That’s what I decided to do in the second half. It worked out pretty well.”

Sather still believes his team is talented enough on offense and is fighting to improve on defense. But he knows UND let some opportunities to take over the game slip away.

“God, you have to make some of the plays we didn’t make,” he said.