Holy Mary, Bison crush Marauders at home
Tuesday’s game against the University of Mary was all about reunions for Bison head coach Tim Miles and Mary head coach Juno Pintar.
Miles, a former graduate of Mary, and Pintar, who graduated from NDSU, both came looking to earn a win against their alma maters.
Andre Smith ended Pintar’s hopes. The NDSU senior finished with a career high 30 points and added nine rebounds to lead the Bison in a lopsided victory over Division II Mary 88-47 in front of 1,516 fans at the Bison Sports Arena.
Pintar a former guard, ranks fifth all-time at NDSU with 142 3-pointers made. Miles and Pintar are friends and have many ties back to both schools.
“It’s always fun playing against people you know and see all the familiar faces in the crowd, it brings a lot of excitement for the game,” Miles said.
The recent injury of sophomore Luke Moormann left the Bison with only an eight man rotation against Mary (7-10). Despite the missing inside presence, the Bison came out strong, shooting well for the second consecutive game with 63 percent and holding Mary to a dismal 31 percent in the first half.
Smith made eight of 10 shots from the field and dominated the low post with his size advantage over the smaller Mary team in the first half. NDSU (10-6) scored 30 points in the paint and defended well, only allowing two points from Mary in the paint helping to gain a 44-26 halftime lead.
The Bison came out in the second half with stingy defense, only allowing 21 points and 33 percent from the field.
Lorenzo Riley had a strong debut in his first collegiate start.
Riley made a career high five blocks to lead the Bison defense.
“It was a tough spot to fill in for Luke (Moormann), but I have to give a lot of energy and bring a tough defensive presence,” Riley said.
The Bison outrebounded Mary 44 to 22 and passed the ball wel, finishing with 17 assists.
The Bison have outrebounded their opponents in 12 of their 16 games this season.
Sophomores Ben Woodside and Brett Winkelman contributed to the Bison with 17 and 19 points, respectively.
Their solid play was needed because prior to the game Miles and the Bison learned that Moormann will be lost for the season after tearing his ACL on Sunday in practice. Moormann was averaging five points per game and six rebounds per game.
“Luke’s defensive presence and excellent rebounding will be missed,” Miles said. “We can go big with Sam (Sussenguth) or play small with Zo (Riley) or Austin (Pennick) with our team the rest of the season.”
Next up for the Bison is a road game at Division I independent Winston-Salem State University.
Winston-Salem (N.C.) has won just two games this season. The remaining opponents of the Bison are all Division I independents.
“We treat the Division I independents opponents as part of our conference this year. This is a great opportunity to prepare for the Mid-Con conference play for us,” Winkelman said.