Panoam’s double-double pushes resilient Hawks past Kansas City

PHOTO/UND ATHLETICS

GRAND FORKS, N.D. (UND ATHLETICS)– Sophomore guard Mier Panoam delivered his second double-double of the season with a 21-point, 10-rebound effort and North Dakota employed a gritty effort on the defensive end of the floor to earn a 76-72 Summit League victory over visiting Kansas City on Saturday afternoon from inside the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.

The physical contest saw 13 ties and ten lead changes, the time leading differed by just over two and a half minutes and the back-and-forth affair came down to the last handful of possessions. Panoam dribbled down into the right elbow, gave a slight shoulder fake to engage his defender and then spun around his opposition for an easy finish and a key bucket late as the Hawks grabbed a 73-69 advantage with 29.2 seconds remaining.

North Dakota was not in the clear yet as the Roos’ Jayson Petty sank a top-of-the-key look to pull KC to within one at 73-72 with 18.4 left. After a pair of free throws from junior guard Eli King pushed the Hawks back up by three at 75-72, a defensive stop was in order for UND to hold off the preseason Summit League favorite Roos. The Hawks responded with a stop as the opposition attempted to initiate contact which led to a turnover and a 1-of-2 result from the line by junior guard Treysen Eaglestaff which put the game on ice.

The final stop by the Hawks prior to Eaglestaff’s FT was the second of two key plays defensively by UND in the final minute of action. The first came with just under 45 seconds remaining as a nearside inbound play on the Kansas City end resulted in a corner three opportunity with the Roos trailing by a bucket at 71-69. However, on the inbound, a flashing Deng Mayar forced a mid-air clutch which resulted in a travel call and led to Panoam’s game-changing spin and drive to the basket.

The Roos led by seven moments following the halftime break and North Dakota’s largest second-half lead stood at six at 63-57 with 5:03 to play. KC got as close as tying the contest at 69 with 71 seconds left, but Panoam netted a pair of free throws to give UND a lead it would not relinquish.

North Dakota turns its attention to the final week of round one action in the Summit League. The Hawks play host to South Dakota on January 23 before making the short trip to Fargo for a rivalry tilt with North Dakota State on January 25.

The action can be seen on Midco Sports and the Summit League Network. Fans can follow the action live with Fighting Hawks men’s basketball radio play-by-play voice Paul Ralston on KSNR 100.3 FM The Cat or on the iHeart Radio app. Live stats for the contest will be available at www.FightingHawks.com.

Postgame Notes

• North Dakota outshot KC with a clip of 46.6%, while defending at a 41.3% rate
• The Hawks’ shooting effort is the third highest against a Division I opponent this season
• UND’s defensive effort held KC to the second-lowest shooting percentage by a UND Division I opponent this season
• Each side committed nine turnovers with the Hawks edging KC in points off turnovers (15-14)
• The Hawks delivered 15 assists for the fourth time this season
• UND’s 15 offensive rebounds marks the 20^thstraight game with 12+ such boards
• The Hawks finished +3 on the glass and finished +8 in the paint with 40 points
• Panoam added a career high three blocks, the most by a Hawk in a game this season, to his double-double effort which led to UND matching its single game high in swats with five
• The Tulane transfer and Anchorage native has produced four 20-point games with a pair of double doubles in six Summit League games
• With a pair of three-pointers, Eaglestaff moved into fifth place outright on the program’s career list with 187
• Eaglestaff finished with 15 points, four rebounds, two assists and a steal
• King finished with 13 points including a trio of big three-pointers and added six rebounds, four assists and a block
• Senior forward Amar Kuljuhovic added ten points, seven boards, two assists and a steal
• UND withstood 20 points from Cameron Faas, 17 from Jayson Petty and held Jamar Brown to just 11 points on 3-of-12 shooting
• The win is the sixth all-time against KC and the fourth of the past five meetings
• UND improves to 35-55 vs. league foes under Sather

How It Happened

First Half
14:55 – UND 11, KC 9 (UND 4-of-last-5 FGs)
10:50 – KC 20, UND 17 (KC 4-of-last-4 FGs)
6:39 – UND 24, KC 22 (KC 3:01 scoring drought)
3:05 – UND 32, KC 29 (UND 3-of-last-3 FGs)
0:23 – KC 34, UND 32 (UND 3:00 scoring drought)
HALF – KC 36, UND 32

Second Half
16:00 – KC 39, UND 37 (KC 3:34 scoring drought)
11:24 – KC 46, UND 46 (UND 3-of-last-3 FGs)
7:43 – UND 55, KC 52 (UND 4-of-last-5 FGs)
3:38 – UND 63, KC 61
FINAL – UND 76, KC 72