Bison struggles continue with leading scorer not in arena

FARGO — The ship hasn’t sunk, there’s still plenty of ocean to navigate for the North Dakota State men’s basketball team this season. At least they made it interesting in the final minute against the University of Montana on Wednesday night. But the seas seem rough right now, that much is certain.

The Bison benched/suspended starting guard and leading scorer Boden Skunberg and that wasn’t the only issue at Scheels Center at Sanford Health Athletic Complex. The 96-86 loss, the fourth straight defeat with the last two at home, dropped NDSU below . 500 for the first time this season at 7-8.

Grizzlies guard Aanen Moody was an issue in his last appearance in his home state. It was supposed to be a matchup of former North Dakota prep standouts Skunberg, from Jamestown, and Moody, from Dickinson. They were summer team teammates back in the day and guys who could score from anywhere.

Skunberg wasn’t at the game and Bison head coach Dave Richman said he could return in the near future. He cited not meeting expectations on the court as the reason. ADVERTISEMENT Moody showed what he could do on the court against the Bison, getting 20 of his 36 points in the first half when the Grizzlies built a 43-31 halftime lead.

“My family is all here, I have a lot of friends here, there was some extra fuel that I had to put on a show and just happy that we got the win while I did that,” Moody said. Meanwhile, it was the second straight game the Bison gave up at least 30 points to another player. “I think it’s a lot of things,” Richman said.

“I need to go back and take a look at, are we putting our guys in the right scheme when they’re in there? … Like (last) Friday night, we let a player come in here and get comfortable. Anytime you give up 96 particularly at home is not a winning recipe and obviously that’s why we got the results. ” It was the first game for both teams in the inaugural Summit League-Big Sky Conference Challenge, with teams from both leagues playing two games against each other this week.

NDSU travels to Eastern Washington for a Saturday game. It gives the Bison just a couple of days to make improvements, although there was a sign when they made a late push for a dramatic rally cutting a big lead to six on a couple of occassions. “Gotta get better,” Richman said.

“The results suck, adversity is going to happen in life. We need to face it head on and keep working. Every single thing that we want is ahead of us.

” Montana was also without a key starter. Freshman guard Money Williams, the second leading scorer at 14. 3 points a game, was out with a foot injury.

That left a lot of the scoring load to leader Moody, who has never been shy about letting the 3-pointer fly and he wasn’t on Wednesday. ADVERTISEMENT “Two words, flow state,” Moody said. “Just not thinking, no paralysis of analysis, just being in the moment and feeling good.

When the first couple go in, it’s pretty easy not to think about the next two or three. ” He was 9 of 13 in the first half alone. The Griz didn’t cool off after intermission building a pair of 14-point leads in the early going of the second half and stretched that to 16 at the 15-minute mark.

But NDSU’s first run of the game, seven straight, got them under a double-deficit for the first time since the first half trailing 68-60 with nine minutes left. It was one of the few times the crowd of 1,592 had a reason to get into it until the final minute. UM (9-5): Thomas 4-11 4-4 13, Sawyer 3-5 1-2 7, Vazquez 6-10 2-2 15, Moody 13-19 7-7 36, Whitney 6-9 4-4 17, Oke 1-2 0-0 2, Williams 2-5 2-2 6.

Totals: 35-61 20-21 96. NDSU (7-8): Morgan 7-12 1-3 15, Miller 8-13 0-0 19, Wheeler-Thomas 4-9 3-4 11, White 5-6 1-2 13, Dissette 4-6 0-0 9, Waddles 2-7 0-0 4, Feddersen 5-9 4-4 15, Burke 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 35-63 9-13 86.

Halftime: UM 43, NDSU 31. Total fouls: UM 17, NDSU 14. Fouled out: Dissette.

Rebounds: UM 30 (Thomas 11); NDSU 25 (Feddersen 8). 3-point goals: UM 6-16 (Thomas 1-4, Sawyer 0-1, Vazquez 1-4, Moody 3-5, Williams 0-1, Whitney 1-1); NDSU 7-16 (Morgan 0-2, Miller 3-5, Waddles 0-2, White 2-2, Dissette 1-1, Feddersen 1-3, Burke 0-1). Assists: UM 13 (Whitney 6); NDSU 8 (White 4).

Turnovers: UM 5 (Whitney 2); NDSU 11 (Wheeler-Thomas 4). A-1,592. Read more from Jeff Kolpack Subscribers Only Men’s Sports Running list of Missouri Valley players in the transfer portal, including starting Bison defensive lineman The NCAA transfer portal officially opened Monday, and activity has been brisk.

1d ago · By Eric Peterson Subscribers Only Men’s Sports Kolpack: For a coaching change in the portal era, it’s been peace on Earth with Bison Jan. 2 is the last day most players can declare for the transfer portal and NDSU is weathering any storm 1d ago · By Jeff Kolpack Subscribers Only Men’s Sports Analysis: Possible to call a Bison four-loss season a success? In this case, yes Considering the way the season started, give credit to NDSU finishing strong Dec 22, 2023 · By Jeff Kolpack Subscribers Only Men’s Sports Bison football promotes Grant Olson to defensive coordinator Veteran defensive line coach Nick Goeser named co-defensive coordinator Dec 21, 2023 · By Jeff Kolpack Subscribers Only Men’s Sports Bison football holds the fort, signs 20 players during coaching change NDSU coaches laud Fargo North’s Peder Haugo for being a leader in 2024 class Dec 20, 2023 · By Jeff Kolpack Subscribers Only Men’s Sports An emotional Tim Polasek back at NDSU, this time as head coach North Dakota State new leader says working with Team Makers, collective a necessity Dec 18, 2023 · By Jeff Kolpack Subscribers Only Men’s Sports Kolpack: From ‘homeless’ in Fargo to Bison head football coach New North Dakota State leader Tim Polasek took a leap of faith in 2006 as a graduate assistant Dec 17, 2023 · By Jeff Kolpack Men’s Sports Ongoing list of Bison football commits for 2024 recruiting class, including RB decommitting to Jackrabbits Here’s a running list of NDSU football verbal commitments for the 2024 recruiting class. Dec 17, 2023 · By Eric Peterson Subscribers Only Men’s Sports Bison name Tim Polasek as next head football coach Former NDSU assistant will replace Matt Entz Dec 17, 2023 · By Jeff Kolpack Subscribers Only Men’s Sports Bison notebook: Two-point conversion game goes Montana’s way in semifinal victory Montana was successful, NDSU was not in the second overtime Dec 16, 2023 · By Jeff Kolpack Subscribers Only Men’s Sports Kolpack: A gritty Bison effort that will go down as a legendary game in Missoula When NDSU and Montana play at Washington-Grizzly, crazy things happen.

Dec 16, 2023 · By Jeff Kolpack Subscribers Only Men’s Sports Bison Game Day: The trail to Frisco starts in Missoula The S&P (stats and predictions) of North Dakota State at Montana semifinal Dec 16, 2023 · By Jeff Kolpack Share Share this article News reporting News reporting Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. The Trust Project What is this? Tags Tags SUBSCRIBERS ONLY BISON MEDIA ZONE INFORUM BISMARCK FARGO BISON MEN’S BASKETBALL By Jeff Kolpack Jeff would like to dispel the notion he was around when Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, but he is on his third decade of reporting with Forum Communications. The son of a reporter and an English teacher, and the brother of a reporter, Jeff has worked at the Jamestown Sun, Bismarck Tribune and since 1990 The Forum, where he’s covered North Dakota State athletics since 1995.

Jeff has covered all nine of NDSU’s Division I FCS national football titles and has written three books: “Horns Up,” “North Dakota Tough” and “Covid Kids. ” He is the radio host of “The Golf Show with Jeff Kolpack” April through August. Twitter.