Men's Basketball Prepares for Bison

PREGAME NOTES

FARGO, N.D. - The IPFW Mastodons prepare to face off agianst the North Dakota State Bison, with the game being featured as on Fox College Sports. Fans can watch the Mastodons locally on Comcast Channel 262 for FCS Atlantic, on Frontier at 300, and DirecTV Channels 623.

Opponent: North Dakota State (13-3, 4-0 Summit League)
When: Thursday, January 10, 2013 | 8 p.m. EST
Where: Fargo, N.D. | Bison Sports Arena (5,830)
Radio: ESPN Radio 1380 AM; Kent Hormann, play-by-play
Television: Fox College Sports / MidCo Sports Net (Tom Nieman, play-by-play; Brad Newitt, analyst)
Live Stats: North Dakota State Live Stats
Streaming Video: NDSU All-Access

SCOUTING THE BISON

North Dakota State comes into the Thursday night battle with a 13-3 oveall record and have won eight of their last nine games, with the lone loss in that span coming at No. 16 Minnesota by a 70-57 score.

In the team's last game, a 63-44 win in Kansas City against the Kangaroos, TrayVonn Wright had a 17-point, 10-rebound double-double, while Taylor Braun scored 14 and Marshall Bjorklun 11. Lawrence Alexander dished out four assists, while he, Wright, and Braun each added two steals.

For the season the Bison have two players averaging in double figures, and two more on the cusp. Braun leads the team with a 15.4 point per game average, while Bjorklun pours in 13 per game. Alexander and Mike Felt each score 9.8 points per game, as Wright averages 8.7.

Bjorklun, who leads NCAA Division I in field goal percentage, shooting 69.6 percent (87-of-125) on the season, also leads the team in rebounding at 5.8 boards per game, with Wright (5.7), and Braun (5.3) close behind. Alexander has given out 62 assists, as Wright also leads the team with 27 blocked shots.

LAST TIME AGAINST THE BISON

Playing in the Gates Sports Center for the first time in over two years, IPFW used a late 14-0 run, capped by a thunderous dunk by Frank Gaines that brought crowd of 1,149 to its feet, and in the process, snaping a four-game losing skid with a 75-66 victory over North Dakota State.

Gaines scored a team-high 23 points, while Justin Jordan scored a dozen, and Michael Kibiloski 11. Two others, Mario Hines and Trey McCorkle, finished a basket shy of double-figures with nine and eight points, each.

The Mastodons out-rebounded the Bison 38-to-24 in the game, led by 10 from Gaines for his first double-double of the year. Hines pulled down six boards, while three others, John Peckinpaugh, Antwaun Boyd, and Kibiloski each corralled five caroms. Boyd dished out a game-high-tying five assists.

The Mastodons jumped out to a seven-point, 15-8 lead through the first six and a half minutes of the game before the Bison quickly responded from the deficit to score eight straight points to take a 16-15 lead nearly three minutes later.

NDSU grew its lead to as many as two in the second half, at 22-20, before IPFW used two three-pointers by Kibiloski and one by Peckinpaugh to push the lead to six with 42 seconds left, before Bison guard Taylor Bruan ended the half with a mid-lane put-back, closing the NDSU deficit to four at 35-31 at halftime.

The Bison came out quickly in the second half, closing the deficit, and increasing a lead to as many as five, the last time on a TrayVonn Wright three-point play that gave NDSU its 55-50 advantage with 10:06 to play in the game.

After the Wright basket, the Mastodon defense clamped down, holding NDSU without another field goal for the next eight and a half minutes, and off the scoreboard altogether for the next six and a half minutes, taking a nine-point lead at 64-55 following Gaines' fastbreak dunk that brought the crowd to a fever pitch.

The crowd was raised to an even further frenzy to possessions later when Jordan was fouled while going in for a lay-up, but had the presence of mind with his back to the basket to throw the ball up over his right shoulder, and as the whistle blew, the ball rolled around the rim and fell through. The subsequent free throw pushed the Mastodon lead to 11, the high-water mark in the game until the last minute of the contest.

The Mastodons made 8-of-10 free throws over the final minute and a half of the game to ice the nine-point Summit League win.

IPFW's rebounding margin was the team's largest since out-rebounding UMKC in each team's Summit League opener this season. The team's 54.2 percent (26-of-48) shooting in the game is tied for the second-highest percentage this season for the 'Dons, who also went 26-of-48 at home against IUPUI on January 5. The 'Dons also made half of their three-point attempts (8-of-16), and 15-of-22 (68.2 percent) on their charity stripe attempts.

ALL-TIME SERIES

The IPFW Mastodons hold an 8-6 lead in the all-time series between the two teams, with the Mastodons winning five of the lsat six meetings, with the only win by the Bison coming in Fargo last season.

QUICK HITTERS

• IPFW senior Frank Gaines currently has 1,517 career points, second most in a career in IPFW history, recently passing Bruce Roland (1985-89), and needs 248 more to move into the career lead, passing Sean Gibson (1989-93) who has 1,765 over his career.

• As of the latest NCAA Rankings (January 3), IPFW ranks 63rd in rebounding margin (+5.4), 69th in steals per game (8.4), and 32nd in total points (1,138), as Frank Gaines sits 32nd in scoring, averaging 19.3 points per game

• Frank Gaines has reached double-figure scoring 69 times in his career and 33 20-point games, but saw his 27-game double-figure streak snapped against Miami (Ohio). His previous time being held to single digits was December 20, 2011 against Purdue.

• Against Judson, IPFW set single-game school records for fewest points allowed (22), and largest margin of victory (70 points)

• Earlier this year in a triple-overtime win over Texas-Pan America, IPFW set single-game school records with 57 free throw Attempts, while the team's 63 rebounds are the second-most in school history.

• IPFW is 2-6 all-time on January 10

• Nine of ten IPFW players who have seen action this season have started at least one game

• IPFW is 6-1 this season when leading at halftime, and are 15-5 under Jasick when leading after the first 20 minutes.

• Against IUPUI, the Mastodons were tied going into halftime for the first time under head coach Tony Jasick's tenure, and the second time happened just six days later against Navy.

• Tony Jasick is the 13th youngest head coach in NCAA Division I

• Six different players have led the team in scoring this season (including ties), led by Gaines, who has led the team nine times

• Gaines also stands second in career school history in free throws made and attempted, fifth in rebounding, 9th in blocked shots and steals

• The Mastodons have out-rebounded 12-of-17 teams this season, and are 6-6 when out-rebounding their opponents

• Junior Michael Kibiloski doubled his previous career-high scoring effort last Saturday, scoring 26 against Omaha

Purdue University Fort Wayne Athletics

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