Back to business
After a whirlwind weekend for the Bison, it was time to get back to business Tuesday, and the Bison did not disappoint.
The Bison scrapped for a 71-64 victory over the University of Idaho Vandals at the Bison Sports Arena. The victory is coming on the heels of their 62-55 win over Wisconsin Saturday.
“ I knew we weren’t going to be at our same intensity,” head coach Tim Miles said. “We just needed to be better than Idaho tonight.”
Ben Woodside led the Bison with 23 points and 6 assists against the quick, swarming defense of the Vandals.
“ They have two great guards,” said Woodside. “We were lucky to come away with a win.”
Woodside was 5-9 from beyond the three-point line, which tied his season high for three-point shots.
Miles was very impressed with Woodside’s effort, considering the circumstances of the last three days.
“ Woody (Woodside) was solid, especially since he was turning around doing interviews,” Miles said.
Brett Winkelman scored 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds in a complimentary effort. Winkelman was second on the team with his eight rebounds on a night that the Bison out rebounded Idaho 41-24.
Of those 41 Bison rebounds, 20 of them came on the offensive side of the ball.
“ We didn’t shoot well tonight, but it’s still about opportunities,” Miles said.
The Bison had plenty of opportunities, scoring 22-second chance points compared to four for the Vandals.
Lucas Moormann grabbed a lot of those chances for the Bison as he finished with eight offensive rebounds and 12 overall.
Despite the large rebounding gap, the game was very close as neither had a lead larger than five until NDSU stretched it to seven on a Brett Winkelman jumper with 4:19 left in the second half.
The largest lead of the game was 10 by the Bison about one minute later.
The Vandals were led by Keoni Watson with 19 points and Tanoris Shepard with 16.
Other scoring contributors for the Bison were Mike Nelson with 10 points, Andre Smith with eight and Moormann with five.
The Bison men are back on the road this weekend, traveling Saturday to Furman University in Greenville, S.C. They make their return home Saturday, Feb. 4, against Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne.