Bison beat up on Minot State

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FARGO — Michael Tveidt, one who has always appreciated a good track meet, got one Wednesday night as he scored 23 points to lead North Dakota State’s men’s basketball team to a 110-82 home opening win over Minot State.

“I like those kind of games,” said Tveidt, a junior who was a 400-meter runner in high school at Pierre, S.D.

Minot State, an NAIA school picked to finish second in the Dakota Athletic Conference, relied on its fullcourt pressure to build a seven-point lead in the first half and maintain a 42-41 lead four minutes before halftime.

But in the final 3 minutes and 12 seconds, the Bison produced a 14-0 run to build a 55-42 lead. The 1-1 Bison never looked back winning their sixth straight home opener before 1,683 fans at the Bison Sports Arena.

“Boy, that was needed, wasn’t it?” Bison head coach Saul Phillips said of the 14-0 run. “It’s clear to everybody that we’ve got some things to work on.”

Tveidt scored seven of his 19 points during the 14-0 run. Sophomore Eric Carlson produced a career-high 16 points and 11 rebounds. Four more Bison ended up scoring in double figures.

“It was kind of the chicken before the egg kind of thing,” Minot State head coach Mike Hultz said of NDSU’s key 14-0 spurt. “I thought we got stagnant offensively then we quit playing hard on the defensive end.”

Hultz, whose Minot State team two years ago lost here 117-84, said his team simply became fatigued.

“That’s the difference between an NAIA body and an NCAA Division I body,” Hultz said. “I thought our guys had to spend a lot more energy than the Bison had to. It takes its toll on you.”

The Bison, who average about 70 possessions per game, had 89 possessions in this track meet. With Tveidt as the only returning starter from last year’s NCAA Tournament team, the Bison are still learning.

They learned that they can not commit 21 turnovers like they did Wednesday night and expect to keep winning.

“We’ve got to take better care of the basketball,” Phillips said.

The Bison also learned that they need to play better man-to-man defense. Minot drained 7 of their first 11 3-pointers.

“We have to improve defense on our driving lines,” Tveidt said. “All they were doing was driving and kicking it out for those three’s. Finally, we were getting some stops.”

The Bison will certainly get a stiffer test in a 4 p.m. home game Saturday against Idaho – a team that opened its season last week with a win at defending Mountain West Conference champion Utah.

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MSU (5-2 record): Johnson 7-10 1-3 15, Malone 2-10 0-0 5, Nathaniel Packineau 7-11 0-1 17, Janjic 3-7 2-2 9, Carney 0-4 0-0 0, Balinton 0-3 3-4 3, West 3-9 3-4 10, Neil Packineau 1-5 0-0 3, Heitkamp 0-1 0-0 0, Turner 6-14 4-4 20. Totals: 29-74 (FG), 13-18 (FT).

NDSU (1-1 record): Flowers 3-5 6-9 12, Tveidt 10-14 1-2 23, Carlson 6-12 4-6 16, Felt 5-9 0-0 13, Vaughan 3-8 2-2 9, Lundberg 0-2 0-0 0, Zastrow 2-4 3-4 9, Pennick 1-2 2-2 4, Sussenguth 4-4 5-5 13, Aaberg 4-6 2-4 10, Nagel 0-1 1-2 1. Totals: 38-67 (FG), 26-36 (FT).

Halftime: NDSU 55, MSU 42. Total fouls: MSU 24, NDSU 17. Fouled out: Carney. 3-point goals: MSU 11-27 (Malone 1-4, Nathaniel Packineau 3-7, Janjic 1-5, Carney 0-1, West 1-2, Neil Packineau 1-1, Heitkamp 0-1, Turner 4-6), NDSU 8-14 (Tveidt 2-3, Felt 3-7, Vaughan 1-2, Zastrow 2-2). Rebounds: MSU 28 (Johnson 7), NDSU 53 (Carlson 11, Vaughan 7, Aaberg 7, Sussenguth 6). Assists: MSU 16 (West 6, Carney 4), NDSU 20 (Zastrow 6). Steals: MSU 8 (Nathaniel Packineau 3, Janjic 3), NDSU 8 (Pennick 3). Turnovers: MSU 15 (Carney 5), NDSU 21 (Tveidt 4, Vaughan 4, Zastrow 4). A-1,683.

Tags: sports, bison, college, basketball, naia