Emmanuel Little spent the last part of halftime in the training room bothered by a sore left leg. Slowed by the injury, the top scorer on the UND men's basketball team didn't have a point for most of the game.
Little's only basket was the biggest basket for the Sioux.
With four seconds left, Little drove the lane, hung in the air to adjust his shot and knocked down the game-winner to lift UND to a 60-58 win over Western Oregon on Saturday in the Thanksgiving Classic in the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.
"I missed a lot of shots today," Little said. "But with 10 seconds left, I thought it couldn't hurt to take the last shot."
Western Oregon's attempt at the buzzer by Brad Krichevsky from the 3-point line went off the rim. Guarded by Darius Joseph, Krichevsky felt he was fouled on the play and briefly confronted the referee.
ADVERTISEMENT
"It was a fitting finish for a team that last year lost a lot of games like this," UND coach Brian Jones said. "We found a way to get it done. I couldn't be prouder and happier for our guys."
The game was eerily familiar to the Sioux. Last season, UND led Western Oregon all game until a 3-pointer with 30 seconds left gave the Wolves a one-point win.
"It was a little nerve-racking," said UND guard Ervin Youmans, who had a team-high 22 points. "Last year, we had trouble with these kinds of games. This is a different year, though. We stuck to it and pulled it out."
Youmans was 4-of-5 shooting from the 3-point line.
Jimmy Hoy and Derek Benter each added nine points for the Sioux, who improved to 2-3.
Sioux guard Travis Bledsoe sat out the second half with a possible concussion.
UND wasn't only slowed by injuries but also had to worry about Western Oregon starting center, 7-foot-3, 310-pound Liam Hughes, and his backup, 6-11, 290-pound Adonal Arrington.
Hughes finished with five points and four blocks, while Arrington also had five points.
ADVERTISEMENT
It was actually the Wolves' smallest player who did the most damage. Krichevsky, a 5-11 senior guard, scored 20 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the 3-point line. Stanley Ratcliff added 10 points for Western Oregon, which dropped to 2-1.
"We wanted to make them go long possessions," Youmans said. "They like it when we come down and shoot it right away. We wanted to slow it down and make them play defense."
Minnesota-Crookston 64, Montevallo 59, OT: Aaron Smith scored 15 points to lead Minnesota-Crookston to an overtime win over Montevallo.
The Golden Eagles improved to 1-3.
Montevallo was slowed by 35 percent shooting from the field.
Anthony Brown's basket with 32 seconds left forced overtime.
Bryce Cummings' 3-pointer and Matt Pelzer's layup sparked the Golden Eagles in overtime.
