Denver men’s basketball was on the road in North Dakota this week with games against North Dakota on Thursday and North Dakota State on Saturday. They beat North Dakota, 68-64 and lost in overtime to North Dakota State, 89-84.
Thursday’s game against North Dakota was all Denver to start. Freshman guard Sebastian Akins got the scoring going early, with nine of Denver’s first fifteen points. He added a steal and assisted a huge slam from senior forward, Pedro Lopez-Sanvicente.
Denver carried this momentum through the rest of the half and headed into the locker room up, 35-19.
The second half started in a similar fashion, with graduate student guard Isiah Addo-Ankrah grabbing a rebound and kicking it out to sophomore guard DeAndre Craig, who pump-faked his defender into the air, side-stepped away and hit the three to put Denver up, 50-28 with 14:50 left to play.
Then, North Dakota started to work their way back into the game. Led by Treysen Eaglestaff’s scoring, they cut the score to 64-63 in favor of Denver with 42 seconds on the clock.
With 20 seconds left, Akins took a screen at the top of the key and drove for a layup to put Denver up three. They went on to close out the game with a defensive stop and two free throws from junior guard Nicholas Shogbonyo to win, 68-64.
Eaglestaff was the game’s leading scorer with 29 points, while Akins finished with 16 points for Denver.
Denver’s shooting was a key factor in letting their lead slip, shooting 20% from three-point range on the night and just 12.5% in the second half. They also shot 61.9% from the free-throw line.
Saturday’s contest was another close game, but this time Denver could not pull out a win.
They started out strong, taking an 18-8 lead with a three-pointer from Addo-Ankrah with 11:31 left in the half.
The rest of the half was a back-and-forth battle. North Dakota State fought back with their lights-out three-point shooting to take a six-point lead at halftime. They shot 8-15 from three in the first half.
The game stayed close through the second half, with Akins attacking the paint to keep Denver in the high-scoring game.
With 32 seconds left to play, North Dakota State’s Jacksen Moni hit two free throws to take a two-point lead.
Denver brought the ball back down the floor, and Akins found junior center Isaiah Carr for a game-tying slam dunk with 16 seconds on the clock.
Denver’s defense held on in the final possession, and the game went to overtime.
In overtime, a three-pointer from North Dakota State’s Masen Miller with 2:29 on the clock and a mid-range jumper from Tajavis Miller with 1:13 to play gave North Dakota State a six-point lead.
They went on to close out the game on the free-throw line and win, 89-84.
Despite the loss, Denver’s shooting showed a huge improvement. They shot 50% from three-point range and 92.9% from the free-throw line. Akins led Denver in scoring again, but this time putting up a career high of 27 points.
These two games brought Denver’s overall record to 9-19 and their conference record to 3-10.
The Crimson and Gold are back in Hamilton Gymnasium in their next contest on Feb. 19 against Oral Roberts.
