GREELEY — Devon Beitzel scored 23 points and Neal Kingman added 20, leading Northern Colorado to a 87-69 victory over North Dakota on Monday night.
Beitzel, who was 7-of-16 shooting, including 5-of-7 on 3-pointers, didn’t score until 13 minutes into the game but finished with his 15th 20-point game. Chris Kaba had 12 points and Paul Garnica and Emmanuel Addo 10 each for Northern Colorado (16-10) in the nonconference game.
The Bears, winners of four of their last five, are 10-0 at home this season.
Troy Huff led North Dakota (13-13) with 20 points. Jamal Webb had 12 points and Patrick Mitchell 11 for the Fighting Sioux. North Dakota made 12-of-26 3-point attempts.
Despite Beitzel’s slow start, the Bears led 37-32 at the break. Kingman had two inside baskets to give them their largest lead of the half, 37-29, before Huff’s conventional three-point play off a steal got the Fighting Sioux back to a five-point deficit.
Northern Colorado began the second half with a 9-0 run and extended its lead to 57-37 on a 3-pointer by Beitzel with 13:47 left. Webb closed the gap to 60-47 for North Dakota, scoring seven points over a two-minute span.
Beitzel made a wide-open 3-pointer to make it 66-49.
NORTH DAKOTA (13-13)
Mitchell 4-10 0-0 11, Brekke 2-4 1-4 5, Huff 6-17 6-8 20, Webb 4-6 1-3 12, Schuler 1-4 0-0 3, Anderson 3-4 2-2 9, Allard 2-3 0-0 6, Clausen 1-3 0-0 2, Stockdale 0-0 1-2 1, Benter 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-52 11-19 69.
NORTHERN COLORADO (16-10)
Kaba 4-9 3-4 12, Kingman 8-12 2-2 20, Montgomery 1-2 5-6 7, Lloyd 0-1 1-2 1, Beitzel 7-16 4-4 23, Addo 5-6 0-0 10, James 0-0 0-0 0, Garnica 4-7 1-1 10, Hanes 0-0 0-0 0, Unruh 0-3 2-2 2, Bedford 0-0 0-0 0, Arnold 0-0 0-0 0, Proctor 1-7 0-2 2. Totals 30-63 18-23 87.
Halftime — UNC 35-32. 3-point goals — ND 12-26 (Webb 3-4, Mitchell 3-8, Allard 2-2, Huff 2-7, Anderson 1-1, Schuler 1-2, Clausen 0-2), UNC 9-20 (Beitzel 5-7, Kingman 2-5, Garnica 1-2, Kaba 1-4, Lloyd 0-1, Addo 0-1). Fouled out — None. Rebounds — ND 27 (Mitchell 7), UNC 36 (Kaba 7). Assists — ND 15 (Anderson 4), UNC 11 (Beitzel, Kaba 3). Total fouls — ND 16, UNC 20. Technical — ND Bench. A — 1,931.
