Feb. 1, 2003

Final Stats

FARGO, N.D. - The University of Northern Colorado men's basketball team fought valiantly after trailing by 21 points to North Dakota State in the second half on Saturday, but the Bears were only able to get as close as five points before a Denver TenBroek three-pointer squashed the rally and helped the Bison to a 91-79 win.

With the loss, UNC (9-10, 1-8) lost for the eighth time in nine NCC contests and drops to below .500 for the first time since the dropping the first two games of the season. The Bears had entered conference play with an 8-2 record. UNC is only 1-5 on the road this season with that lone victory coming at Western State in December.

After having to battle All-NCC perfomer Jerome Beasley on Friday night (he scored 36 points and grabbed 19 rebounds), the Bears had their hands full with the Bison's (15-6, 6-3 NCC)TenBroek who scored a game-high 28 points. He had 20 points and 11 rebounds when the two teams met earlier this season in Greeley.

UNC was also without sophomore center Josh Nigut for most of the night, as he injured his ankle early in the first half, played only four minutes and did not return for the remainder of the contest.

Two first-year players did spark the Bears on the night. Junior transfer Heath Orvis scored a career-high 18 points while freshman Vincent Jackson also added a career-high with 20 points on the evening. Orvis has 4-5 from three-point range while Jackson was 7-11 from the field and an impressive 6-7 from the free-throw line.

"We spotted them too much of a halftime lead but played them much better in the second half," head coach Craig Rasmuson said after the game. "I thought we were average for the first 30 minutes of the game and you can't play like this in our league and expect to win. We played great the last 10 minutes but it was too little too late. It would have been nice to have Josh's (Nigut) size the rest of the game after he had a couple of rebounds early in the game."

"Heath (Orvis) stepped up and had a huge game, making some big shots and keeping us in the game," Rasmuson added.

UNC will next play at nationally ranked South Dakota next Saturday night before returning home to battle South Dakota State on Feb. 13.

Game Notes: NDSU leads the all-time series with UNC now by a 33-20 margin and have won two in a row in the series ... UNC is now tied with Augustana for eighth place in the NCC, those two teams will meet in Greeley on Feb. 18 ... UNC fell to 4-5 on Saturday's this season ... the Bears are 1-5 when trailing at halftime ... NDSU outrebounded UNC 26-24 ... UNC shot 52% from the field while NDSU shot 61.4% ... UNC fell to 8-3 on the season when shooting 50% or better from the field ... Sean Nolen played the full 40 minutes for the second straight game.