Drop Summit League openers at Western Illinois and St. Thomas

Grant Nelson’s career night was not enough as the Bison fall to Leathernecks 79-60 

The Bison returned to the floor following a week off as they hit the road to Macomb, Ill. to take on the Western Illinois Leathernecks. The Leathernecks, who had won five straight prior to Monday, were picked to finish seventh in the Summit League, three spots behind North Dakota State. However, not even Grant Nelson’s career-high night could propel the Bison to a conference-opening victory. 

North Dakota State stayed on par with the Leathernecks for much of the first half and trailed by as little as two with 3:33 to play. Nelson scored 20 of his 35 points in the first half including the last 15 of the half for his team. Western Illinois, however, would close out the half strongly thanks to leading scorers Alec Rosner and Trenton Massner, each averaging 16 points per game. The 8-4 run to finish the half gave Western Illinois a 35-29 lead into the break. 

While the Bison maintained a solid 46% shooting percentage in the first half, they struggled from beyond the arc. Tajavis Miller’s three to give the Bison a 14-13 lead with 10:54 in the first half was the only one of seven shots to ripple the net from long distance. As well as outscoring the Bison in points off turnovers 14-4, the Leathernecks also connected on 48.3% of their field goal attempts. 

The Bison remained well within reach to start the second frame of play, aided by a 14-9 run through the second media timeout of the half at 11:31. In the next three minutes, the Leathernecks embarked on a 15-6 run to extend their lead to 59-49. As Nelson continued his best efforts to carry the Bison, Massner and Western Illinois were too much. In the final eight minutes of play, Massner scored 10 of his team-high 24 points. With 2:29 to play, their lead was up to 72-57. Following free throws to ice the game, the Leathernecks cruised to their sixth straight win. 

Western Illinois shot identical percentages from the field in the second half but the biggest difference was the long ball. Western Illinois hit 10 threes for the game, with seven of those coming in the second half. Massner and Rosner combined for nine of those ten threes to pace the way. Massner, along with his team-high 24 points, grabbed 11 boards and dished out seven assists as well. 

As for the road team from Fargo, their shooting woes persisted through the latter stages of the game. Following a 0-10 showing from deep in the second half, the Bison’s dropped to 1-17 (5.9%) from three for the game. Nelson, who played 37 minutes, also grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds, more than the rest of the team combined. The 16 rebounds are the most by a Bison player in nearly eight years. 

Western Illinois is off until December 29 when they head to Brookings, S.D. to face off with South Dakota State, whereas the Bison had a quick turnaround as they traveled to St. Thomas for a Wednesday afternoon matchup. 

Game Stats: 

Grant Nelson 35 Pts 16 Reb 14-23 FG; Boden Skunberg 10 Pts 2 Reb 5-10 FG 

Bison can’t slow down Tommies; fall 78-68 to conclude road trip 

As the Bison wrap up their conference-opening road trip, they took on the St. Thomas Tommies in St. Paul, Minn. Originally scheduled to tip at 7 p.m. on Wednesday evening, the game was moved up to a noon tip due to expected poor weather and travel concerns. However, that didn’t slow down the Tommies as they prevailed over the Bison to improve to 2-0 in the conference while dropping North Dakota State to 0-2 in Summit League play for the first time under David Richman. 

Roaring out of the gates, the Bison opened up to a 10-2 lead in the first four and half minutes of play paced by Grant Nelson and Andrew Morgan with five points apiece. In spite of that, the Tommies had a big run of their own, scoring the next 10 points of the game commenced by St. Thomas’ Parker Bjorklund who recorded a game-high 19 points. 

Over the next eight and a half minutes of play, the Herd roared back to a 30-24 advantage with 2:50 to go, culminated by a Grant Nelson slam. Unfortunately for the Bison, they would miss their final three shots of the half while St. Thomas went on their second 10-0 run of their initial frame. The Tommies were led during that stretch by guard Kendall Blue, who scored seven points on three straight possessions. Following a free throw from Bjorklund, the Bison went to the locker room with a 34-30 deficit. 

Blue and the Tommies stayed hot as they came out of the break and saw their lead climb to 41-30 in just the first two minutes of play but it wouldn’t stop there. Following a bucket and foul for Brooks Allen of St. Thomas, the lead had ballooned to 59-42 with 10:16 to play, a 25-12 run to start the half. The Tommies shot 52% from the field for the game but more impressively 59% in the second half. 

North Dakota State’s second-half scorcher Jacari White would come alive following the break. White scored all of his team-high 15 points in the second half and was the focal point of the Bison’s 19-7 run that cut their deficit to 66-61 with 3:16 remaining. The run would in essence end at that very moment when Boden Skunberg picked up a technical foul. The Tommies would shortly put the game away as they connected on all eight of their free throw attempts in the final 3:16 and pull away with a 78-68 home win. 

In comparison to Monday’s contest, the Bison improved greatly in shooting the rock. The Herd connected on 60% of their field goals in the second half and 53% for the game. However, the biggest turnaround may have been their three-point shooting. Building from their 1-17 disaster on Monday, North Dakota State went 8-23 (34.8%) from deep on Wednesday afternoon.  

While the Tommies struggled from deep, they hit their free throws. While the Bison shot a head-tilting 50% from the charity stripe, the Tommies hit 18 of their 22 shots (81.8%) from the line including the final eight in a row to close the game.  

With five players in double figures, the Tommies, who were picked to finish eighth in the Summit League, are now 11-4 on the year and are slated to travel to play South Dakota on December 29. The Bison, who fall to 3-11, are back in action on Friday, December 30, against their rival North Dakota in Grand Forks at 7 p.m.  

Game Stats: 

Grant Nelson 15 Pts 9 Reb 5-7 FG; Jacari White 15 Pts 4 Reb 5-10 FG