NDSU Stuns Top Seed IPFW, Reaches Fourth Straight Summit League Championship

Courtesy of GoBison.com

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – converted a layup with four seconds remaining in the second-half to give the North Dakota State University men’s basketball team its only lead of the game and the fifth-seeded Bison defeated top-seed IPFW 69-68 in the semifinals of the 2016 Summit League Men’s Basketball Championship on Monday night, March 7, inside the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center.

Dupree, a junior from Milwaukee, Wis., was fouled on the shot but missed the free-throw, and Max Landis’ shot at the buzzer missed the target for IPFW (24-9).

Dupree led all scorers in the contest with a career-high 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field, while freshman added 19 points and went 3-for-6 from the three-point range. netted 10 points to round out the Bison in double figures.

paced the Bison on the glass, pulling down a game-high 10 rebounds.

With the victory, NDSU reaches 20 wins (20-12) for the fourth consecutive season and will play in Tuesday night’s 8 p.m. championship game. It’s the fourth straight season the Bison have advanced to the championship game.

North Dakota State’s comeback came after the Mastodons controlled the game early. IPFW went up 15-2 after John Konchar scored inside. It was 36-21 at halftime after Fort Wayne had its largest lead of the contest at 31-13 when IPFW hit back-to-back-to-back three-pointers.

The Bison rallied and pulled within 64-62 after Kabellis drilled a three with 2:41 to go in the second-half. Kabellis’ trey capped an 11-0 NDSU run.

After Landis hit a three with 1:50 remaining to put the Mastodons up, 68-65, Dupree drove to the basket and connected on a layup in traffic to pull NDSU within one with 43 ticks remaining on the clock. After IPFW missed a shot with 21 seconds to go, NDSU got the ball on an alternate possession and Dupree drove to the hoop for his winning shot.

North Dakota State shot 50 percent from the floor for the game (25-of-50) while IPFW finished at 38.7 percent (24-of-62). The Bison held the Mastodons to just 33 percent shooting in the second half and outscored IPFW in the paint in the game, 30-20.

Landis led IPFW with 19 points.