Huff, big second half pushes North Dakota men's basketball past Eastern Washington

Huff, big second half pushes North Dakota men's basketball past Eastern Washington

University of North DakotaGRAND FORKS, N.D. (January 17, 2013)Junior Troy Huff registered a double-double and reached the 1,000-point plateau to lead North Dakota to a 65-47 victory over Eastern Washington in Big Sky play on Thursday. Huff finished with team-highs of 18 points and 11 rebounds as he became the 32nd player and just the ninth junior in UND history to reach that milestone.

The largest home win of the season for UND (6-10, 3-4 BSC) also marked the first back-to-back victories for the team (6-10, 3-4 BSC) in league play this season, while Eastern Washington (4-13, 2-5 BSC) dropped its second straight.

We challenged our guys at halftime to come out with a sense of urgency and Im proud of the way we responded, UND head coach Brian Jones said. Thats the type of half we are capable of playing. Now, we just have to find a way to put those together on a consistent basis.

Things looked good early on for the home team as UND jumped out to an 8-0 lead as Huff had five of those points, but the visitors quickly responded with 10 straight to take their first lead of the game.

That spurt by the Eagles would begin a back-and-forth affair for the rest of the half that saw Martin Seiferth put his team ahead 29-27 at the break thanks to his third putback of the half.

Seiferth and Huff both had 11 first-half points for their respective teams that saw UND shoot just 28.1 percent from the floor. After a slow start, EWU managed a 41.9 percent clip from the floor with Seifert leading that effort thanks to a 5-for-5 showing.

Much like the first half, UND opened the second half on a big run only this time the home team never relented. Huff had a dunk and a 3-pointer during what turned out to be a 19-3 run for UND.

His trifecta from the top of key put him over the 1,000-point mark and UND never let its lead slip below double digits the rest of the way.

The first half was a struggle, Huff said. We didnt come out with the right energy but, we just picked each other up in the locker room (at halftime) and came out strong in the second half.

The Green and White clamped down on the defensive end as well, holding EWU to just a 25 percent clip in the second half and the 19 points scored by the Eagles were a season-low by a UND opponent in the second half.

Huffs 11 rebounds equaled his season-high as he led a 44-38 advantage on the glass by the home team. The double-double was the sixth of his career and second of the season.

Huff was joined in double figures by guards Aaron Anderson and Jamal Webb. Anderson chipped in with 17 and six assists, while Webb added 11 points, four assists and five steals.

Seiferth scored only three points in the second half to finish with 14, while freshman Venky Jois added 12 points and a game-high 14 rebounds to post his eighth double-double of the season.

UND closes out a four-game Big Sky homestand on Saturday against Portland State. Tipoff is set for 2:05 p.m.

Source: http://boxscorenews.com/huff-big-second-half-pushes-north-dakota-mens-basketball-past-eastern-was-p54064-79.htm

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