SWSiouxMN

Geno carries leading us to media TO UND 29 Idaho 17 7:40 1st

Avants with the soft touch

sloppy sequence by both teams

goes 1 of 2 UND 27 Idaho 12

great ball movement and Avants gets hacked. To the line for 2

dumb fouls by Shanks

UND 26 Idaho 9 11:02 1st

Cortez goes coast to coast for the lay up

Idaho finally hits a shot to break the run by UND

HOT HOT HOT! Corey hits a 3

I think Q hit that one from Sac Town, TO Idaho 21-7 UND UND red hot, Idaho ice cold

got them both 18-7

Shanks with an aggressive take and will go to the line for 2

UND 16 Idaho 7 13:33

Sanders with 2 Drick responds with 2 of his own

UND with 2nd chance points after all 5 Vandal players were lazy on the rebound

Under 16 media UND 12 Idaho 5

Geno fakes the 3, drives, dishes and Avants gets the bucket and the harm!

Another 3 for Geno, UND is off to a hot start

makes 2 of 3 7-2 UND

Corey fouled on a 3 3 trips, 3 good possessions

Geno 3

Drick finds his buddy Avants in the post for 2.

and here we go!

With 6 players in double figures in scoring and a blazing start, UND was able to come up with a solid victory over hated PSU and advanced to the semi-finals for the 4th time in 5 years (seems like every year UND gets to this point). Instead of playing their usual suspect Weber as in years past, UND will clash with the Vandals of Idaho, another semi-finalist from last year, for a trip to the title game Saturday Night. Idaho got to this point by avenging a defeat last year in Reno with a 81-77 victory over the Griz. Idaho is back to a place where everybody thought they would be coming into the year, but it hasn't been easy. Losing their 2nd best player to an ACL tear, then getting off to a slow start in conference play. After starting off 1-3, they went 11-3 the rest of the way. We all know about the dangerous Vic Sanders, who is making his case to be in the running for Big Sky POY next season and he has quality help in forward Brayon Blake. However, in this recent winning streak a new player has stepped into the fold by the name of Arkadiy Mkrtychyan, who in the last 6 games has averaged 14.5 ppg and 5 rpg. He has given Idaho another dimension and as a result, we have see Idaho play their best basketball of the year. Oh, by the way. Not only does everyone of significance come back next year, they will get their 2nd best player back next year as well. Idaho should go into 2017-18 as the league favorite, at least in my eyes. The last matchup in the regular season UND played possibly one of their best game of the year, they shut down Sanders to the point where Shanks matched his total points (11). UND also shot the ball very well, took care of it, played solid defense, and rebounded very well. Idaho also shot 4-19 from downtown and 38% from the field overall. UND just needs to keep doing what it has been doing so far in BSC play, get off to a good start, hit your shots, play great D and rebound. Geno and Q had big games against them and Corey might have his shot back, Shanks could be of big use off the bench as well as Seales. This is a different Idaho team from February and will more than likely play like it. UND needs to be vary. UND is 2-2 all time against Idaho in BSC play since the Vandals rejoined in 2014. This is the first time matchup between the two in BSC tourney play. UND is 1-2 all time in BSC semi matchups, while Idaho is 0-1 Other Game: #2 Eastern Washington (22-10) vs #3 Weber State (18-12) This has all the makings to be a good one, both teams split meetings against each other and won on their home courts. Both teams looked impressive against their quarterfinal opponents. It will be strength verses strength as Eastern's talented bigs clash with Weber's talented guards. Two big questions: Can Eastern hit enough shots if one of their big two is struggling or in foul trouble? Can Weber get enough help for Senglin and somehow slow down the big 2 of the Eagles? Whoever can answer those questions the best will come away with a hard fought victory and a spot in the title game. The Fallen: Montana: waiting to see if a postseason berth comes their way, otherwise a team that loses Wright, but brings a ton of talent back and is bringing in quite a bit too. Poplar pick to win the league next year with Idaho. Sac State: lose Hornsby and Stuteville, but bring back Strings and Graves. Could very well be in the same spot at minimum next year Portland State: Lose Parsons and Robinson, but bring back a solid core. Might be a sleeper to make an Eastern like move next year Southern Utah: Long year but SUU can say they won more BSC tourney games this year than Montana. Solid 1-2 punch of Randy O and McGee return, but the program has a bit of a ways to go before they are challenging the elite of the BSC. The call: This will be a different matchup that the one in the regular season. You can't really expect Idaho to shoot 4-19 from downtown against and Sanders to struggle to get his points. The also have a big that is playing very well since the 1st matchup, so they are starting to become quite a dangerous team. UND also has to be feeling pretty good with getting their shooters going and getting great production off their bench. This will be a much closer matchup that the first go around and Idaho will shoot a bit better. UND however will bring another solid, balanced team effort and will punch its ticket into the Big Sky Conference finals and go to 2-0 in teams not named Weber in BSC semi play. UND 79-73 Bonus pick: EWU 84-80 OT