The Media’s Perspective

[PointGuard]

Bison Fans! Welcome to tonight’s Bison game against the Western Illinois Leathernecks. The floundering NDSU team, now on a 2 game losing streak and mired in the middle of the Summit League standings, takes on a team that has a 7 game win streak and sits on the.....wait for it....summit....of the Summit League standings. Can the Bison team turn things around? This will be a big test for them.

It looks like Coach Tad Bolton is trying to shake the team up a bit. He’s stuck with a set starting lineup throughout the season, but tonight, he has replaced James Hall with Evan Williams at PF in an attempt to infuse more offense early. But the tradeoff is the loss of Halls’ rebounding prowess.

For the Leathernecks, they’re led offensively by SG Stevie Magliore. But Magliore is nursing an injured wrist that has kept him out of the past two games. So we’ll see if his shooting is hampered by the injury. If it is, no worry for Western Illinois, because PG Dante Porte and SF Calvin Thomas have shown the ability to take up the slack and put points on the scoreboard.
**********
PG Colin Shannon tosses the ball away again. The Bison have turned the ball over 3 of their first 4 possessions in this game.
**********
Wow. Both teams are tight. 9 total turnovers in the first 4-1/2 minutes. The score remains 4-4. The refs give the ball over to North Dakota State.
**********
Brandon Tracy knocks down another 3 to give him 8 points and put the Bison ahead 17-12 with 10-1/2 minutes to play in the first half.
**********
Shannon cuts around the screen and puts up a 14-foot jumper that drops through the net to put North Dakota State up 25-15 with 7:34 on the clock.
**********
Magliore’s long 3 cuts the lead to 7. That’s 8 points for Magliore, so it looks like he’s shaken off the impact of his injured wrist.
**********
Daniels fouls James Hall under the basket. That’s the 7th foul on the Leathernecks. Hall goes to the line for a one-and-one. He drops through his first free throw. And now his second is good also. That makes it 31-22 in favor of the Bison with 3:38 to go in the half.
**********
Shannon gets the ball back on the pick and roll and darts into the lane. He muscles up a shot and is fouled. Shannon’s first shot is off the mark. He drills the second free throw to make the score NDSU-32, Western Illinois-24. The Leathernecks inbound the ball with 53 seconds on the clock.
**********
Tracy fires up a 3 as the buzzer sounds and it’s GOOD! The puts the Bison on top 35-26 at the half. NDSU achieved this by hitting 56% of their FG attempts compared to the Leathernecks’ 35% shooting. Brandon Tracy leads all scorers with 11 points and has yet to miss a shot.
**********
The Bison have come out stone-cold in the 2nd half and with 14:39 to go, there’s a timeout. Western Illinois have closed the gap to 39-34.
**********
Tracy gets around his man and drives to the hoop. He dunks it to make it 48-39 in favor of the Bison with 12 minutes left in the game. That’s 16 points for Tracy.
**********
Shannon’s sinks a long 3 pointer to give the Bison a 10-point lead with 7 minutes to go. Shannon now has 15 points.
**********
James Hall gets the ball inside, he turns and pushes his way toward the basket, pulling back to put up a 5 foot shot over the defender. It’s in and he was fouled on the shot. Hall goes to the line and completes the 3-point play to make the score 62-49.
**********
Magliore gets free for a 3. Swish! That cuts the lead to 4 points with 1:38 to play.
**********
The buzzer sounds. NDSU scores a 74-66 victory! The win moves them into a 2nd place tie just a game behind Western Illinois.
**********
For the Bison, PG Colin Shannon scored 21 points and SF Brandon Tracy hit every shot he took to score 20 points. PF James Hall added 9. While SG Kevin Brinker was held scoreless, he dished out 5 assists, pulled down 7 rebounds, and had 2 steals and a block.

The Leathernecks’ PF Bryan Daniels scored 17 points and hauled in 14 rebounds.

[Wayne23]

Good old NDSU!

[PointGuard]

Following a big win earlier this week, North Dakota State’s basketball team took to the road to take on the Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks. Coming into the game, the Mavericks were in last place in the Summit League with a 3-7 record while the Bison owned a 6-4 league record. For the season, the Mavericks were 6-15, but 5 of their 6 wins came at home.

C Ian Leatherman (13.7 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 1.4 spg, and 0.7 bpg) and SF Albert Callahan (12.2 ppg and 5.0 rpg) had led the Nebraska-Omaha squad throughout the season.

NDSU’s SF Brandon Tracy strained his wrist so had missed practice this week, but suited up for the game even though his condition is listed as less than 100%.

The Bison had a hard time getting the ball in the hoop early in the first half while the Mavericks hit their shots and held a small lead until midway through the half. NDSU clawed their way back into the game and took a small lead, but then their shooting went flat again dropping them into a 35-28 halftime deficit. PF Evan Williams came off the bench to infuse life in the middle portion of the half. He led all scorers with 11 points.

The Mavericks came out hot in the 2nd half and opened a 20 point lead with 14-1/2 minutes to play. The Bison cut the lead to 9 points but couldn’t get closer and ended up losing 85-68. Nebraska-Omaha shredded the Bison defense by hitting 67% of their FG attempts and 64% of their 3’s.

Two subs led the Bison scoring. PF Evan Williams knocked down 22 points and SF Michael Daniels added 11.

The loss dropped NDSU into 4th place in the Summit League with a 6-5 record.

[PointGuard]

Tonight the North Dakota State Bison basketball team hosted the IPFW Mastadons to try to claw their way into a tie for 2nd place with the Mastadons in the Summit League. The Bison scored the first 10 points of the game with aggressive defensive play. But IPFW roared back to score 12 unanswered points and take the lead. The lead shifted back and forth but IPFW took over at the end of the first half to carve out a 42-36 advantage. 15 team fouls against the Bison set the Mastadons where they hit 18 free throws, 11 more than North Dakota State. SF Brandon Tracy scored 8 first half points.

In the second half, the Bison started off quickly again and regained the lead at 45-44 after just 3 minutes of play. Midway through the 2nd half, NDSU led 58-53. The Bison gradually increased their lead to win it 75-66 thus moving up into a 2nd place tie in the Summit League. PG Colin Shannon led their scoring with 12 points and SF Brandon Tracy added 10 while PG Cliff Evans and PF Evan Williams came off the bench to each score 9 points. Twelve players scored for the Bison. IPFW was led by C LyRyan Canty who scored 19 and pulled down 8 rebounds.

[PointGuard]

Last night the NDSU Bison travelled to Brookings, SD to take on the South Dakota State Jackrabbits, a team trailing the Bison by ½ game in the Summit League. A rabid ‘Rabbit crowd was on hand to root on the home team.

The Bison played dispiritedly during throughout the entire first half, committing 14 turnovers and hitting just 39% of their shots. That allowed the Jackrabbits to build a 41-23 halftime advantage. South Dakota State’s SF Darrell Toton burned the Bison with 16 points in the half.

The Jackrabbits held the Bison off in the 2nd half and rolled to a 73-52 lopsided victory which drops the Bison into 4th place in the Summit League. SF Brandon Tracy led the anemic Bison attack with just 10 points. For South Dakota State, the two starting guards, Chris Criddle and Darrell Toton, combined for 42 points.

Following the game, Coach Tad Bolton said, “We can’t let the crowd take us out of games on the road. It’s totally unacceptable. We just never got our offense in gear and let the Jackrabbits steadily draw away in a game in which we should have challenged them.”

[jksander]

Full-Court Man-To-Man is the only defense that matters

[PointGuard]

The Bison basketballers up-and-down season marched on last night when they hosted the Denver Pioneers. With reserve PF Jaron Dickerson shelved the rest of the season with a torn ACL, the team’s weak interior was even more stretched. 1st Assistant Coach Jason Jones remarked, “We might resort to using Michael Daniels to sub at PF. While not carrying the bulk we’d like for the position, he has the height and has been shooting well in his reserve role at SF this season.”

A challenge for the Bison in the game was to try to limit SG Derrick Williams, who has been scoring 16.4 ppg thus far this season.

The Bison hit just 32% of their first half shots plus turned the ball over 10 times allowing the Pioneers to take a 24-19 lead to the locker room.

Early in the 2nd half, the Bison hit 3 straight 3 pointers to jump ahead 33-28. But the Pioneers then scored the next 10 points. After the Bison fell behind by as much as 8 points, SF Brandon Tracy hit a 3 with just under 2 minutes to play that cut the Pioneers’ lead to 48-46. But NDSU was unable to score again and dropped a critical home game by the score of 53-46.

An anemic offense cost the Bison again. They only were able to drop in 31% of their shots. There were no offensive stars for the Bison, but SF Brandon Tracy led their scoring with 12 points. But another reason for the defeat was that NDSU had 19 turnovers compared to Denver’s 10. Derrick Williams led Denver’s scoring with 15 points.

The loss dropped NDSU’s season record to 13-12 and their league record to 7-7. They now have dropped to 5th place in the Summit League. After 10 straight victories at home, tonight was the first home loss for the Bison this season.

[PointGuard]

Following two disappointing losses, North Dakota State enters tonight’s game in tenuous position. Should they lose a 3rd straight game tonight, they will drop yet another notch in the league since South Dakota is just a half-game behind them going into this game. The Coyotes are led offensively by C Roland Mullahon who is averaging 16.8 ppg.
**********
Kevin Brinker sinks both free throws to give the Bison an 11-0 lead with 14:24 to play in the half.
**********
Erik Pettway steps in front of Hall and steals the ball. A great outlet pass to Yeaton who drives up court and lays it in to score South Dakota’s first points and cut the lead to 13-2. The Bison inbound the ball with 13:21 to go in the half.
**********
As the Bison press, Jones takes the inbound pass for the Coyotes, his pass is picked off by Haywood who tosses a sweet ally-oop pass to Kelsey Brown who jams it down. Brown was fouled on the shot. He drops in the free throw to give the Bison a 16-5 lead.
**********
The Bison work the ball around, Dickerson takes the pass down low. He flips it over to Hall who puts up a 10 foot jumper that swishes through the silk to put North Dakota State ahead 25-11 with 6-1/2 minutes left in the half.
**********
The buzzer sounds. The score at the half, North Dakota State-29, South Dakota-19.
**********
Both teams his under 40% of their field goal attempts in the first half, but the Bison forced the Coyotes to turn the ball over 14 times while NDSU had just 6 turnovers. PF James Hall led the scoring for the Bison with 10 points.
**********
Another whistle against the Bison. That’s 4 in the first 81 seconds of the 2nd half. Coach Bolton is all over the refs. But Mulholland will go to the line for the Pioneers. He drops in both shots.
**********
Another foul on the Bison. Webb hits both shots to cut the lead to 29-23 with 18:10 to go in the game. That’s 5 fouls in less than 2 minutes.
**********
James Hall picks up his 3rd foul. 6 team fouls with 17:22 to go. Bolton is yelling at the refs, but they don’t tag him with a technical.
**********
Another foul! 7 now with 16:24 to go so the Coyotes are already in the bonus. Mulholland returns the line. He makes the first but misses the second to make the score 29-24.
**********
That’s the 7th team foul against the Coyotes. Kelsey Brown goes to the line for a one-and-one. With 10:44 remaining, he converts both shots to give the Bison a 45-35 lead.
**********
Miller drives and pulls up. His shot is off the rim, but Hall grabs the rebound and stuffs it in to make it 47-35.
**********
The refs continue to wet their whistles. That puts Colin Shannon on the line. He makes both shots to make it 59-50 with 4:55 to go.
**********
With just over a minute to play, South Dakota is forced to foul. Colin Shannon toes the line. He sinks the first, and now the 2nd drops as well making it 68-59.
**********
The Coyotes cut the lead to 5 points. Can the Bison hold them off?
**********
South Dakota’s last minute effort comes up short and the Bison come away with a 72-67 victory on the road.
**********
For North Dakota State, PF James Hall scored 14 and reserve SG Kelsey Brown added 10. PG Colin Shannon scored 8, but also had 5 assists, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals. The win keeps the Bison in 5th place in the Summit League with an 8-7 record and one game to play.
**********
PT: We have PG Colin Shannon with us. Colin, this was a big turn-around for team tonight. What was the difference from the previous two games?
CS: We were just tired of losing and embarrassed by our play lately. So I think the team pulled together to gain and maintain control of this game from the very beginning. James Hall was big for us early. Then when the refs teamed up against us early in the 2nd half, we never let it get us down. In fact, it made us dig deeper. We got scoring from throughout the lineup. Each time the Coyotes made a run, we were able to turn them back because no matter who was on the court for us, we all were intent on ensuring we won this game.
PT: What do you think of your chances in the Summit League tournament?
CS: We have to lock down our final game at home before thinking about the league tournament. But We know we can beat any team in the conference. There is no prohibitive favorite this year, so we just have to focus on each game we play and play together as a team like we did tonight.
PT: The team has made significant improvement this year. What do you attribute the difference to?
CS: Foremost, Coach Bolton has brought a new approach and attitude. Coach demands 100% effort. After our last two games, he lit a fire under us. My first 3 years here were kinda tough since we were the doormats each year. But it’s been fun playing and winning this year. I think that success breeds success so while I will be gone next year, I fully expect this team to make further advances next season. Even though we’re losing 3 starters, we’ve had good support off the bench and those guys are ready to step in next year. It was nice seeing Kelsey Brown, a freshman who is still getting used to Division I college ball, come in and play such a good game off the bench tonight.
PT: Thank Colin and good luck the rest of the season.

[PointGuard]

Bison Stampede Over Jaguars

The Bison ended their regular season by hosting the cellar-dwellling IUPUI Jaguars last night. Midway through the first half, NDSU took a double-digit lead. They combined a solid defense that limited the Jaguars shooting to 35% and forced 11 turnovers together with offensive aggressiveness that resulting in NDSU dropping in 50% of their shots. By the end of the first half, the Bison led 41-25. SF Brandon Tracy was high point man with 13 points, and he also pulled down 4 rebounds and blocked 2 shots.

In the second half, the Bison continued to roll and they opened up a 29-point lead just 6 minutes into the final half. From that point they coasted to an 82-52 beat down of the Jaguars. Brandon Tracy led their scoring with 19 points. PG David Miller came off the bench to score 11.

The win catapulted the team into a 2nd place tie in the Summit League standings. They finished the regular season with a 15-12 record overall and a 9-7 league record.

After the game, it was announced that PG Colin Shannon suffered a mild concussion and will be held out of practice, but is expected to be ready for NDSU’s first league tournament game.

Summit League Final Standings:

[PointGuard]

The Summit Tourney Gets Underway

The first day of the Summit League Tournament played out yesterday.

#1 seed Western Illinois jumped out on top of 8th seed Nebraska-Omaha and never looked back. The Leathernecks held a 46-29 advantage at the half and opened as much as a 23 point lead before putting away the Mavericks by the final score of 84-64. Western Illinois hit 55% of their FG attempts and an amazing 79% of their 3’s while out-rebounding Nebraska-Omaha 33-21. Five Leathernecks players scored in double figures, led by SF Calvin Thomas’ 16 points. The Mavericks’ SF Albert Callahan led all scorers with 17 points.

Denver, the #2 seed, trailed the #7 seed South Dakota by 3 points at the half. But the Pioneers got their offense in gear in the 2nd half and built a 17-point lead before settling for a 73-60 victory. The Coyotes threw away their chance for an upset by making 27 turnovers. SG Derrick Williams scored 19 points for Denver while C Roland Mullahon dropped in 18 points for South Dakota.

The first half between the evenly matched #4 seed IFPW and #5 seed South Dakota State was a dog-fight throughout the entire 20 minutes of play, with IFPW coming away with a slim 31-30 halftime lead. But South Dakota State dominated the boards by the tune of 28-19 plus got to the foul line 9 more times in the game, scoring 10 more points on free throws. The allowed them to pull away in the 2nd half. The Coyotes beat the Mastadons 75-66. SG Darrell Toton led the Coyotes offensively with 19 points. For IFPW, C LyRyan Canty and SG Armand Marsh both scored 11 points.

North Dakota State, which finished league play in a 4 way tie for 2nd place, was the 3rd seed and was matched against the 6th seed, Oral Roberts. During the regular season, the Bison split two games with the Golden Eagles. Each team prevailed on their home court.

The Bison came out on fire offensively and opened a 20-9 lead in the first 8 minutes of play. At that point PG Colin Shannon got into foul trouble and was replaced by David Miller who popped in 14 points in his first 9 minutes on the floor. NDSU finished the half up 44-29, hitting 62% of their shots while dishing out 16 assists.

While their offensive productivity dropped off in the 2nd half, the Bison held onto a double digit lead throughout the half. Coach Bolton substituted liberally as NDSU pulled away for a 74-57 beat down of the Golden Eagles.

Reserve David Miller led the Bison attack with 19 points. SF Brandon Tracy scored 14 and PG Colin Shannon added 13. SG Kevin Brinker scored just 4 points but had 6 steals and 2 blocks to go along with 4 rebounds. Oral Roberts was led by SG Roland Hayes with 20 points.