GREELEY, Colo.—Devon Beitzel scored 23 points and Neal Kingman added 20, leading Northern Colorado to a 87-69 victory over North Dakota Monday night.
Beitzel, who was 7-of-16 shooting including 5 for 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 coach Brian Jones drew a technical after a no call on a missed layup by Aaron Anderson with 3:16 to go. Beitzel converted both free throws and Garnica hit a jump shot on the possession to put the game out of reach at 83-66.
