Feb. 14—GRAND FORKS — North Dakota State head coach David Richman knew what his team was up against heading into Saturday afternoon's game at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.
A hostile road environment? Check. A resilient UND team with a proven ability to mount second-half comebacks? Check. A rivalry bout with major implications in the Summit League standings? Check.
The Bison went into halftime trailing by a point. But it didn't take long for the visitors to establish in the second half that the Fighting Hawks would not get the opportunity for another late rally.
NDSU kicked off the second frame on an 18-5 run, kept its foot on the gas and steamed ahead to an 83-66 win over the Hawks.
"(UND) is tough," Richman said. "They're resilient. How many times that they've been down double digits? That's why we stayed on edge the entirety of that second half. Extremely proud of our guys and the way they responded."
The Bison added some padding to their spot atop the conference standings. They moved to 11-1 in Summit League play and 21-6 overall.
The Hawks moved to 15-14 overall and 9-4 in league play, good for third place. St. Thomas sits at second (20-7, 9-3) with a game against Kansas City on Saturday night.
"We need to keep playing to win," Richman said. "Kindergarten is for sharing. We want to keep getting better, we want to keep getting better, we want to keep getting better. ... We're in a good spot. I have no interest in being good."
NDSU's run in the opening minutes of the second half was highlighted by a handful of resounding dunks from Markhi Strickland.
The senior guard was just one of four Bison who scored in double figures.
"It's a crazy energy boost," sophomore guard Andy Stefonowicz said. "I don't know how he dunks it that hard, but that's my favorite. When he goes up there, I know he's dunking it."
UND, which had begun to force turnovers and find some defensive rhythm near the end of the first half, struggled to contain the Bison's wide array of offensive weapons in the second.
Stefonowicz shot 5-for-5 from 3-point range and scored a team-high 20 points. Strickland and junior guard Damari Wheeler-Thomas each scored 16 points, while junior forward Noah Feddersen contributed 12.
"Just really disappointed in the second half," Hawks head coach Paul Sather said. "The toughness side of it, the team aspect stuff, I just didn't think we were very good about that in the second half. Made a few shots offensively, but I just think that's what our concern was mostly and we didn't have the concern or the fight defensively enough. I thought we made it really easy for them. We didn't put up enough of a fight."
NDSU also made a living on the boards, outrebounding the Hawks 36-23.
The Bison grabbed 12 offensive rebounds and scored 19 second-chance points. For Sather, it was further proof of the Hawks' lackluster effort.
"There were a few times where shots went up, and we didn't really even put a body," Sather said. "It's February. You've got to play with some physicality, and we didn't. It's just a really good reflective number on your effort, when you get (beat in) second-chance points like that."
UND kept up with NDSU in the first half despite shooting 37% from the field. The Hawks improved with a 50% effort from the field in the second, but it was no match for the Bison's 64.3%.
Redshirt freshman Greyson Uelmen tried to create a spark with 14 second-half points, but none of his teammates scored more than six points in the final frame.
"I just was really disappointed with our fight," Sather said. "That's kind of who we've been. And when you don't have it, it's a hard one to put your finger on. "