Men split conference road games
Written by Cavin Berube Tuesday, 08 December 2009 08:00
The NDSU men’s basketball team opened up the conference season on Thursday night at Western Illinois. The Leathernecks and Bison were both looking to start the conference schedule out on the right foot. The Bison were the ones that came away with the victory, 60-55.
Sophomore Eric Carlson led the team in scoring with 19 points. Senior Josh Vaughn added 13 points and added nine boards. Junior Michael Tveidt had career high 11 rebounds to go along with his nine points.
Sophomore Ceola Clark led WIU in scoring with 19 but was really the only outstanding thing the Necks did all evening. The Bison held WIU to 31.8 percent shooting over 60 minutes of play and they also outrebounded the Leathernecks by 19, 50-31. While the Necks only had five turnovers, it was not enough to stop the Herd.
The men were once again on the road on Saturday, facing one of the tougher conference opponents on the schedule. The men headed into The Jungle to take on the Jaguars from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, who were sitting near the top of The Summit League at 6-2 overall with a 1-0 record in the conference. The Bison were unable to grab the “W” as they fell 86-74.
The men started out the game keeping pace with the Jags, trailing by only two just over five minutes into the game. That was when the Jags were able to put together an 11-2 run to go up eleven in the first half.
The Bison were unable to decrease that deficit and went into the half trailing by nine.
The men came out in the second half and improved their play, tying the game on a three pointer by Mike Felt with less than seven minutes to play. But this was the closest the Bison would get to the lead.
Robert Glenn scored seven straight of his game high 33 for the Jags and the lead was back up to seven. Glenn continued to carry the Jags and they went on for a 12-point win to keep them undefeated in the conference. The men were able to hit some consistent shots, connecting on 46 percent from the field.
But the tale of the tape shows that the men were once again unable to take care of the ball. The Bison committed 18 turnovers while only forcing eight out of the Jags. It is nearly impossible to win conference games when committing that many turnovers.
The men had four of their starters in double digits, and were led by Carlson who had 20 points and nine rebounds. The Bison fell to 3-4 and 1-1 in the conference.
This week the Bison will take a break from conference play as they will take on Dickinson State on Wednesday night at the Bison Sports Arena. They will then face the Panthers from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in Fargo on Saturday.
