Jan. 27, 2007

Box Score

Fargo, ND- The Utah Valley State men's basketball team dropped a 61-53 road game to North Dakota State on Saturday at the Bison Sports Arena. The loss dropped the Wolverines to 13-7 while North Dakota State upped its record to 13-6.

The game was played in front of a crowd of 3,314, the second largest crowd of the season for the Bison. The biggest crowd for North Dakota State was when it had a sold out crowd of 6,110 against Kansas State back on December 9.

The Wolverines struggled offensively shooting 36 percent from the field. David Heck was the only UV player in double figures with 12. Richard Troyer, Joe Walker and Matt Peterson each had nine points. Troyer had a team-high nine rebounds while Walker added eight.

North Dakota State shot 51 percent and was led by Brett Winkelman's and Andre Smith's 18 points. Smith grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds. Mike Nelson also chipped in 16 in the Bison win.

"We just got beat tonight," Utah Valley State coach Dick Hunsaker said. "North Dakota State had more energy, passion and wanted the game more than we did. They were tough defensively f or us."

The Wolverines only lead of the game was 5-2 after Walker converted on a 3-point play at the 15:49 mark.

North Dakota State then went on a 15-2 run to take a 17-7 lead with 9:11 left until halftime. The Bison led by as many as 16 in the first half before the Wolverines came within 10 at 34-24 following a Peterson basket with 51 seconds left.

North Dakota State got one more basket before the break to lead 36-34.

The second half didn't start any better for the Wolverines as they fell behind 50-31 six minutes in.

Utah Valley then was able to establish some momentum and go on a 12-0 run to cut the North Dakota State lead to 50-43 following a 3-pointer by Heck with 9:28 left in the game. Troyer and Josh Olsen also knocked down three-point buckets during the Wolverine spurt.

The Wolverines could not get any closer than eight points the rest of the way.

Utah Valley returns to the McKay Center on Thursday to host New Jersey Institute of Technology. Tip -off is set for 7 p.m