Denver men’s basketball (11-14, 4-6) opened its two-game road swing Thursday night against the North Dakota State Bison, 9-0 in conference play. Denver battled for both halves as Carson Johnson paced the Pioneer scoring and Gabe Oldham hauled down 12 big rebounds. Denver rebuffed the Bison down the stretch in the confidence-building win.
The teams exchanged points early when DU’s Gabe Oldham scored a pair of consecutive buckets to put DU up 9-5 at the five-minute mark. At the first media timeout (10:14), DU led 19-14 as Jeremiah Burke and Carson Johnson combined for 13 points and Gabe Oldham pulled down four rebounds. The first ten minutes had only two fouls called. Zane Nelson buried a shot from distance, 26-18, and a Josh Lee bucket-and-one gave the Pioneers their biggest lead on the back of a 10-0 run. In the final five minutes, a Carson Johnson tray, his third in the first half, held off a Bison run, 34-27. After trading baskets, Julius Rollins finished the DU scoring, 40-34, halftime.
The second half opened with each side scoring, followed by a Logan Kinsey bucket-and-one that put DU up by nine. Denver held an 11-point edge at the ‘officials timeout’. Following three straight stops, NDSU’s Wheeler Thomas’ three-point play closed the gap to 8. Pioneer fouls put the Bison in the penalty with 13 minutes remaining. Denver went cold from the field while NDSU came surging back on a Tay Smith tray-and-one, 55-51, with eleven minutes left. NDSU knotted the game, 55-55, on a 9-0 Bison run. At 7:19, NDSU got its first lead on a pair of free throws, 58-57. However, Denver responded down the stretch. Zane Nelson secured a rebound and bucket put-in to extend the Denver lead with five minutes left. Denver led by 4 on a Carson Johnson floater with a minute remaining. Logan Kinsey ran the baseline and took a Johnson feed and bucket with 27 seconds left, 72-68. NDSU was called for basket interference and the ball went back to Denver with 19 seconds remaining. Foul shots ensued. Denver’s Zane Nelson and Carson Johnson sank the charities and DU came away with the 78-71 win.
Denver was the best team all night, holding NDSU to less than three minutes in the lead. Denver shot 50.9% and out-rebounded NDSU 35-33. On a personal note, Jeremiah Burke had a solid night against his old team with 15 points, 3 rebounds and 2 steals. Next up is North Dakota on Saturday at 12:00 MT in Grand Forks. The Fighting Hawks, one of the league’s hottest teams, have won five conference games in a row.
That’s amazing! Go Pios!
Huge win for the Pios. They’ve been very close but maybe a win like this gives them the confidence they need to close the close ones out.
Don’t know what the rest of the season holds, but I doubt anyone had this team winning at CSU, at UNC, and at an undefeated league leader before the season started. They might be undersized inside, but they play their butts off and they are seeing improvement for sure. If they continue to play defense like they have the last few games, people are not going to want to face them in the tournament because they can score so well. Between Johnson and Nelson up top and Burke and Kinsey on the wings, they have options. They’ve been fun to watch and cheer for!
Cheers to the Pios and their outstanding efforts.
Looks like the team is starting to play better defense. This is scary for opponents as the season progresses. We all know they can shoot lights out. Can’t wait to see what happens in the Summit Tourney. I hope fans start to pack Hamilton down the stretch
They have been so close in so many games that it’s great to see them get over the top against a good team. Beating CSU, UNC and ND State on the road is indeed impressive. Tourney is wide open.