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Hot-handed Mastadons top Bison

FORT WAYNE, Ind. -- Jaraun Burrows, a 6-foot-8 post player, lined up for a 3-point shot. "No," yelled his coach Dane Fife. Burrows drained the shot. That's how good he and his Indiana Purdue-Fort Wayne men's basketball team were feeling in Saturd...

FORT WAYNE, Ind. -- Jaraun Burrows, a 6-foot-8 post player, lined up for a 3-point shot.

"No," yelled his coach Dane Fife.

Burrows drained the shot. That's how good he and his Indiana Purdue-Fort Wayne men's basketball team were feeling in Saturday's 82-63 Summit League win over North Dakota State.

Before 2,880 fans at the War Memorial Coliseum, Burrows scored a career-high 30 points helping IPFW avenge the 94-67 loss it suffered Jan. 3 at the Bison Sports Arena. It extended IPFW's home record to 9-2 while NDSU remains winless in three tries in Fort Wayne.

"I thought we could win, but I didn't expect to win this big," said Fife, whose team improved to 6-5 in the Summit League.

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"All I know is we played at a very high level Thursday night," NDSU head coach Saul Phillips said, referring to Thursday's heartbreaking 77-74 loss at Oakland. "We didn't come near that level today."

Burrows, a senior from Nassau, Bahamas, ended up making 10 of 12 field goals and 9 of 12 free throws to pour in his 30 points. He was quick to credit point guard Demetrius Johnson for his outburst.

Johnson, who missed six games when he injured his knee during a pre-game shootaround in Fargo, scored 10 points and dished out 10 assists.

"Demetrius makes it so much easier for all of us out there," said Burrows, who was the recipient of numerous passes from Johnson. "He and I make contact the whole time out there."

"He's a great ballhandler," Bison point guard Ben Woodside said of Johnson. "He sees the floor real well."

The Bison appeared sluggish when they fell behind 22-13 in the first half. But they went on a 16-5 run during the final 10 minutes to take a 29-28 halftime lead.

The Bison kept close, 37-35 early in the second half. That's when IPFW went on an 11-2 run to take a 48-37 lead with 11:46 remaining. The Mastodons built a 65-50 lead with seven minutes remaining.

The Bison could get no closer than nine points, 67-58 with 4:50 remaining. After that, Johnson dished out four assists and scored six of his 10 points.

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"I thought Demetrius was as good as he's been down the stretch," Fife said. "He was unguardable."

The Bison were led by Brett Winkelman's 18 points and seven rebounds. Dickinson High graduate Lucas Moormann added 11 rebounds and seven rebounds.

Woodside scored 11 points to surpass Dan Wilberscheid as NDSU's No. 9 all-time leading scorer with 1,402 points. Mike Nelson, who scored 25 points Thursday night, was limited to eight points Saturday - enough to surpass John Wojtak as NDSU's No. 22 all-time leading scorer.

But combined, Woodside and Nelson made only 6 of 24 field goals.

"When you get shooting like that, you need production from other people and you need to play great defensively," said Phillips, who saw his team give up 54 second-half points. "We didn't get either one of those tonight. There's not a whole lot of positives you can say about this game."

The Bison, which falls to 11-11 overall and 5-6 in the Summit League, returns to their homecourt next week with games against Western Illinois and Indiana Purdue-Indianapolis.

The Forum and The Dickinson Press are both owned by Forum Communications Co.

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