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.
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PG Colin Shannon tosses the ball away again. The Bison have turned the ball over 3 of their first 4 possessions in this game.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Magliore gets free for a 3. Swish! That cuts the lead to 4 points with 1:38 to play.
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The buzzer sounds. NDSU scores a 74-66 victory! The win moves them into a 2nd place tie just a game behind Western Illinois.
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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.