UND’s defensive collapse cost for the second game in a row in a loss to St. Thomas – Grand Forks Herald

GRAND FORKS — For the second straight game to begin Summit League play, the UND men’s basketball team got off to a slow start and dug a hole it couldn’t overcome in an 88-80 loss to St. Thomas.

And like Thursday’s 95-85 loss to Omaha, the Fighting Hawks’ defense was the problem Saturday.

“To start the game tonight, we left some really good shooters open and they made us pay,” UND guard Eli King said. “It was on the five guys that were on the floor. The more we talk and communicate with each other, the better we get.”

St. Thomas forward Carter Bjerke made two 3-pointers early and a third from Miles Barnstable helped the Tommies run out to an 11-0 lead.

Two free throws by Treysen Eaglestaff marked UND’s first points nearly five minutes into the game.

George Natsvlishvili’s second-chance layup at 14:12 was UND’s first field goal.

Grand Forks native Zach Kraft hit back-to-back triples to cut the Tommies’ lead to 15-10. But it wasn’t enough when St. Thomas went on a 16-2 run over four minutes to take a 41-29 lead into halftime.

Offensively, Mier Panoam’s double-double of 20 points and 12 rebounds led UND. King, Eaglestaff and Dariyus Woodson each finished with 14 points.

Eaglestaff was honored pregame with a ball commemorating his 40-point performance against Alabama two weeks ago, pushing him over 1,000 career points.

Kerry Ring / UND Athletics

However, the starters did not shine offensively in the first half. Deng Mayar, Amar Kuljuhovic, King, Panoam and Eaglestaff went 4-for-17 (23.5%) from the field in the opening half.

The bench, aided by Kraft and Woodson, shot 46.2% (6-for-13) to start.

And any bright spots on offense in the second half — when UND nearly doubled its scoring output from the first half with 29 points — were still overshadowed by defensive breakdowns.

“The second conference game in a row where I think we let our opponent come in and just dictate tempo and style and aggressiveness,” UND coach Paul Sather said. “The fight we showed throughout, plays we made throughout … There are so many positives to draw from, but the frustration is we didn’t start right. We didn’t start out hard.

“What I’m disappointed with and most concerned about is just the concern we had defensively. It’s a lot of guys not connected and engaged enough through 40 minutes and all possessions.”

UND found itself in a similar situation last year. The Hawks went 0-3 to start conference play, in the midst of an 0-6 losing skid.

But UND responded by winning its next seven, ultimately earning a three-seed in the Summit League tournament.

“Obviously you can learn things from previous years,” King said. “It’s a long conference season. We got off to a bad start last year and ended up right there at the end of the regular season. But I think it’s just trying to learn from it and understand that you have to take it with you every single night in this conference or you can get beat. You can also beat anyone in a single night. I think we just have to be forward-thinking. Both of these matches we started slowly, and it is also a real pity to be at home. We have to come in with the right mindset and just take each game one at a time and improve each game.”