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Purdue Fort Wayne
North Dakota
Mastodons Cruise Past North Dakota, 73-52
12/12/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 12, 2009
Fort Wayne, IN - North Dakota decided that zone defense was the way to stop IPFW on Saturday afternoon at the Memorial Coliseum. Senior guard Nick Daniels and junior guard Ben Botts made them pay as IPFW shot their way past The Fighting Sioux, 73-52.
Daniels finished the game with a career-high 19 points, including a career-high five 3-pointers. Botts finished with 15, also bagging five triples.
Daniels set the tone of the game right away, banging home a three-ball.
Junior forward Antwone Snead found the zone defense to his liking as well. On two consecutive possessions, he took a ball from the high-post and slashed to the basket for layups.
Senior forward Deilvez Yearby also was able to find room to work inside. Yearby put back his own miss to give the Mastodons a 12-point lead, then after a hoop by UND forward Travis Mertens, Yearby floated to the rack and slammed one home for a 20-8 lead.
The Mastodons took a 40-20 lead into the locker room at halftime.
In the second half, The Fighting Sioux got as close as 14 on a free-throw from junior forward Chris Clausen, but IPFW quickly grew the lead to 22 on another triple from Daniels.
IPFW grabbed their biggest lead of the game on an old-fashioned three-point play by Snead at the 7:46 mark of the second half, 64-37.
The Mastodons put it on cruise control from that point on to win by 21.
Along with Daniels' 19, Snead added a career-high 17 points. He also had eight rebounds. Botts finished up the game with 15, while Yearby chipped in 13 points. He was a rebound shy of his second straight double-double, but he did block two shots and dish out three assists.
North Dakota (1-10) was led by Mertens with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Clausen was the only other Fighting Sioux in double digits with 11.
IPFW outshot UND 47.3% to 30.4%. The battle of the boards was a tied at 37.
With the win, IPFW improves its overall record to 3-5. The Mastodons will have a week off to prepare for a trip to East Lansing, Michigan to take on Michigan State. Game time next Saturday is 12:00 p.m.
Note:
Associate Head Coach Tony Jasick coached IPFW in today's game. Head Coach Dane Fife was coaching a more important player, his wife Blair, as the two are expecting the couple's first child. At press time, the couple was still awaiting the arrival of the newest member of the Mastodon family!
~Dons~
