SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — For the fifth time in school history, North Dakota State is headed to the NCAA tournament, and this time it was never in doubt.
The top-seeded Bison led from start to finish and overwhelmed No. 6 North Dakota 89-53 in the Summit League Tournament championship game on Tuesday night and secured the automatic tournament bid.
NDSU's leading scorer, Vinnie Shahid, led the Bison with 25 points on 8-of-14 shooting. Shahid entered the game averaging 18.2 points per game, but he blew by that early in the second half. Tyson Ward scored 15 of his 23 points in the second half for the Bison. He finished with a double-double by also grabbing a game-high 13 rebounds.
"It's contagious. We had confidence in each other," Shahid said. "When one guy sees the ball go in, it boosts the confidence for everybody."
NDSU (25-8) raced to a 13-0 lead and had North Dakota down 21-2 in the first eight minutes of the game. The Bison continued to pour it on in the first half, building the lead to as many as 27 points at the break.
North Dakota State was never threatened the rest of the way and continued to build on the lead in the second half, pushing the margin to as many as 39 when Shahid scored to make it 86-47 with three minutes to play. NDSU shot 55% from the field.
"What you're telling your team in those first timeouts is that there's a lot of time left," said North Dakota coach Paul Sather. "You can come back from a 16-18-20 point deficit, but you gotta start stringing some stops together. It just didn't feel like we could string anything together."
The Bison used a solid defensive effort in the first half to create the big separation that North Dakota was never able to overcome. Down 26-7 with nine minutes to play, the Fighting Hawks were just 2 of 14 from the floor. But credit NDSU for some of those shooting woes. North Dakota was better in the second half, shooting 35% from the field, but it was much too late for a comeback.
