It was the Chris Udofia show this past weekend in what may be the last time the senior forward steps on the court as a starter for the Pioneer men’s basketball team.

A fitting end to an altogether impressive college career, Udofia started off the weekend strong in the 75-67 win over Western Illinois University with a near triple-double performance. He scored  21 points on 8-for-9 shooting to go along with eight rebounds, seven assists and three blocks.

Udofia proceeded to snag a double-double against the University of Nebraska Omaha on Saturday night, scoring 12 points and grabbing 11 boards, seven of which came in the first half. The 6-foot-6 forward also played stingy defense on the way to a 72-60 team win, a win that puts the Pioneers at 15-12 overall and 8-4 (fourth place) in the Summit League.

“It’s just nice to do that in Chris’ last home game because he played unbelievable in a big game and he finished his career at home the right way,” said head coach Joe Scott.

Udofia was not the only one making shots Thursday night, as the Pios shot at a season-best clip of 65.8 percent from the field in a back-and-forth affair last Thursday night. The game featured 15 lead changes.

Clutch free throws down the stretch by Udofia and sophomore guard Bryant Rucker along with stingy team sealed the win for the Pioneers.

There was a lesser sense of tension during Saturday night’s game against the Omaha Mavericks, apart from the first half.Down nine at the 13- minute mark of the first half, junior guard Brett Olson hit a second-chance 3-pointer to get the scoring going for the Pioneers, and at the half the Pios held a seven-point, 41-34 lead.

The Pios used a 17-6 run in the first part of the second half to distance themselves from the Mavericks, at one point holding a 23-point lead, the largest of the night.

Both nights the Pios had four players get to double digits. Sophomore guard Nate Engesser scored 11 points both nights to lead the effort off the bench, and made a go-ahead layup Saturday night that gave the Pios their first lead of the night with under 6 minutes to play. Omaha  would never lead again.

“To have guys come off the bench like that maybe when things aren’t going so well, I think it’s definitely a sign of maturity on their parts individually but also of how our team has grown this year,” Scott said.

With two games left in the regular season, Scott has his team thinking small.

“We gotta embrace the one-and-done situation. We have a one-game season next Thursday night at South Dakota State. If we can embrace it, and know what the word embrace means to us playing-wise, then we’ll be ready to go.”

Scott and company will be on the road to close out the season, taking on South Dakota State University next Thursday and North Dakota State University on Saturday. South Dakota State was the victor in the teams’ last meeting, as the Jackrabbits scored eight points in the final 17 seconds to win in heartbreaking fashion. The Pioneers rebounded the following day to grind out a four-point win over North Dakota State.

“We’re 8-2 in our last 10,” noted Scott. “We’re playing well, and we’ve put ourselves in pretty good position going on the road here to play some really meaningful games.”