NDSU’s first test did not let up

The NDSU men’s team had a tense start to the Summit League Tournament. The number one seeded Bison took on the number eight seeded University of Denver Pioneers on Saturday evening. Senior Vinnie Shahid led the team with 22 points, behind him was senior Tyson Ward who put 20 points on the board.

The score remained close the entirety of the game, with the largest lead was held by the Bison at the start of the second half, at 10 points. Jaxon Knotek had an unbelievable dunk at the start of the game, which put the score at 18-12 NDSU. Though, with Denver being the 8 seed, the tension throughout the game was overwhelming. Denver’s freshman forward Robert Jones (21) led the team in scoring, and guard Jase Townsend (20) caused the Bison problems offensively until the very end.

Denver went on a 9-0 run in the second half and Townsend proved to be tough to guard. The Pioneers gained the lead into the second half, but the Bison tied it up with under one minute to play at 69 points apiece. In a tense last few seconds of the game, Vinnie Shahid was fouled and made both free throws, giving NDSU the win at 71-69.

With the game on the line, the Bison got two clutch blocks from Rocky Kreuser and Sam Griesel secured the dub for the Herd.

Tyree Eady was out due to the team’s concussion protocol. Coach Richman told reporters that Eady’s concussion problem goes back to the game against Omaha last Saturday and that he is unsure if he will return in the game on Monday. The Bison took on (the winner of the Oral Roberts and Omaha game) on Monday.