Jan. 11, 2003

Final Stats

GREELEY, Colo. - Coming off their worst loss ever at Butler-Hancock Hall, the University of Northern Colorado men's basketball team regrouped and played for a complete 40 minutes of Saturday afternoon, but came up just short against 9th ranked South Dakota, 91-84.

UNC (8-6, 0-4 NCC) came out quickly opening a 12-4 lead five minutes into the game thanks to five points from junior point guard Sean Nolen as he was just beginning his career night.

The Bears held its lead until USD's (13-1, 2-1 NCC) Derek Paben canned a trifecta with 7:59 left in the first half. And after the game was tied at 21, the Coyotes ran off seven straight points to open up a lead which would stand at 35-30 at the half.

In the second half All-NCC senior Tommie King put his stamp on the game for South Dakota. Plagued by foul trouble in the first half, King scored only four points. But King scored 11 points, including two dunks, in the first four and a half minutes of the second half to put USD up by double digits early in the half.

Although it looked like UNC may wilt as they did during the second half of Thursday's game, the Bears pulled together and fought back. USD led 64-53 with 9:18 left before junior Heath Orvis hit the first of back-to-back three-pointers for UNC. That sparked a 7-2 run that pulled UNC to within six points at 66-60.

The Bears would get within four points on a three-pointer by Kevin Knudson with 46 seconds left but would get no closer. USD, who leads NCAA Division II in free-throw percentage, made 7-8 over the next 41 seconds to clinch the game.

King, who fouled out of the game, was one of five USD players in double figures, adding 20 points. Doug Hanson led the Coyotes with 21 while Josh Mueller had 15.

UNC was led by a career-high 33 points from Nolen, who played the entire 40 minutes of the game. He was 11-16 from the field, 4-6 from three-point range and 7-7 from the line. Sophomore center Josh Nigut added a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds as he played 39:50 minutes of the contest. Knudson added 15 including three, three-pointers.

UNC returns to action on Thursday night when they travel to Sioux Falls to battle Augustana. Tip-off is 7:00 p.m. mountain time.

Game Notes: After having their two worst field goal shooting games of the season, UNC responded by hitting 54.7% of their shots, the ninth time this season they had shot 50% or better from the field ... USD outscored UNC 38-32 in the paint ... the Coyotes had 19 second chance points compared to six for the Bears ... Knudson is only five three-pointers away from holding the UNC career-mark; he currently has 168.