Denver men’s basketball (12-7, 2-1) traveled to Fargo to take on the North Dakota State Bison Thursday night. The Pioneers had not beaten NDSU on the road since a home-and-home sweep in 2018. Despite 15 turnovers and a tough night for Tommy Brunner (except for a huge game-breaking tray in the final 1:09), Denver rode a red-hot Touko Tainamo with 21 points and 5 rebounds along with Jaxson Brenchley with 15 points and 6 rebounds. Ultimately, it was Denver’s defense that kept the Bison from making a field goal and four free throw makes in the final 4:23 to clinch the win.

In the first five minutes, the teams played even-up until a Tommy Bruner assist and dunk by Isaiah Carr along with a Pedro Sanvicente three-point-make gave DU a 9-4 edge. Denver held a 16-10 advantage at the official timeout spurred by four forced Bison turnovers. Denver held a five-point edge at the midway point of the half, led by Touko Tainamo’s 9 points. At 6:55, the Bison took their first lead, 23-22, on a looping shot over Isaiah Carr. An Isaiah Addo-Ankrah tray put DU up 29-25 with five minutes left following a Denver scoring run. NDSU’s Boden Skunberg kept NDSU close with several step-in jumpers near the paint with 10 points but Denver held back the Bison. As time ran down, NDSU got a defensive stop and bucket in the final seconds but Denver still led at the break, 37-34.

Denver shot 53.6% for the half to 44.8% for the Bison. Denver had 6 turnovers to 7 for the Bison.

Both teams came out cold from the field to start the second half and DU held a 5-point lead at the 17:51 media timeout.  Two minutes later, the Bison cut the lead to one point, 41-40, with a step-back jumper by Thomas Wheeler. At 14:46 the Bison got their second lead 44-43 but Isaiah Carr countered with a dunk from a feed from Tommy Bruner. The teams exchanged buckets as Denver led by four, 53-49, at the nine-minute mark following a Tainamo hook. Fourteen turnovers by DU kept NDSU in the game and DU eventually trailed by one, 61-60, with five minutes left. At 3:16 Tyson Garff nailed a tray to give DU the lead, 65-64, to cap a 7-0 Pioneer run. A huge Bruner three-point dagar put DU up by four with one minute to go and followed that with two free throws to essentially salt the game, 74-68. NDSU missed their final shots and Pedro Lopez-Sanvicente finished with a dunk, 78-70, DU. Ultimately, it was the defensive effort down the stretch that ensured the win.

Denver shot 54% from the field with 9 steals, 6 blocks and 15 assists. Tyson Garff hit big shots (6 pts., 4 assists), Deandre Craig (5 pts., 5 assists) ran the offense for extended minutes and Isiah Carr (8 pts., 3 reb.) stuffed the middle and made key blocks. While Tainamo and Brenchley were Denver’s best players on the night, it was Tommy Bruner’s 15 points which included his three-point make at 1:09 that gave Denver breathing room down the stretch.

Next up is North Dakota on Saturday at 11:00 am MT at Grand Forks.