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OGDEN, Utah (December 13, 2016) – The non-conference portion of the 2016-17 men’s basketball season is winding down but tough games remain for Big Sky Conference teams. Montana heads to Eugene, Ore., to face No. 22 Oregon tonight at 7 p.m. Pacific while Eastern Washington hosts Morehead State out of the Ohio Valley Conference.
Northern Arizona hosts Arkansas-Little Rock tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. Mountain in a non-conference tilt. This weekend’s action features regional tilts with North Dakota hosting rival North Dakota State, Weber State taking on Utah Valley and Northern Colorado traveling to Denver.
This week’s top performers
Randy Onwuasor (SUU) - Onwuasor scored 33 points in SUU’s loss to Loyola Marymount and 31 points in SUU’s loss to Cal State Fullerton. Additionally, over the two games, he combined for a 22-for-44 shooting performance from the field, 12 rebounds, three assists, and two steals.
Ty Gibson (EWU) - Sophomore Ty Gibson scored 13 points in a less than four minute span in the first half and finished with a career-high 19 points in EWU’s 103-76 victory over Great Falls on Dec. 8. In helping Eastern open leads of 27-2 and 39-4, he played only 15 minutes and still nearly doubled his previous high of 10 last year versus Southern Utah and on Nov. 27 this season versus San Francisco. He scored 13 points in a 3:43 stretch in the first half with four three-pointers and a free throw. Gibson made 6-of-7 shots from the field – all 3-point attempts – and made all three of his free throws. For the season, he is averaging 4.6 points on 57.1 percent shooting from the field, including 12-of-21 3-pointers (57.1 percent). He is a 2015 graduate of Issaquah (Wash.) High School.
Deontae North (PSU) - North came off the bench to score a career-high 25 points, hitting 9-13 shots, 2-4 from three-point range and 5-7 at the free throw line, in 27 minutes against CSU Bakersfield.
North led the Vikings with seven rebounds and four steals as well. Both of those were season highs
Geno Crandall (UND) - Crandall scored a career-high 24 points to lead North Dakota to a 74-56 road win at rival North Dakota State on Wednesday, then added 10 points in a 78-70 loss at Northern Iowa. Against the Bison, he had 15 first-half points to help the Fighting Hawks take a 10-point lead at the break and added a season-high five rebounds to go with three steals. Crandall went 3-for-5 from beyond the arc and made all five of his free throws as UND won in Fargo for the first time since 2003.
In Saturday’s loss to UNI, Crandall went 5-for-9 from the floor and added four assists and a steal in a game that UND led for a majority of the contest. Crandall has now scored double figures in 12-straight games, which is the longest active streak on the team.
Coming Up This Week
TUESDAY 12.13.16
Morehead State at Eastern Washington 6:05 p.m.
Montana at No. 22 Oregon 7 p.m.
New Hope Christian at Portland State 7:05 p.m.
WEDNESDAY 12.14.16
Arkansas-Little Rock at Northern Arizona 6:30 p.m.
FRIDAY 12.16.16
Portland State at San Francisco 7 p.m.
North Dakota State at North Dakota 8 p.m.
Montana Tech at Idaho State 6:05 PM
SATURDAY 12.17.16
IUPUI at Southern Utah 4 p.m.
Montana at UC Riverside 6 p.m.
Northern Colorado at Denver 7 p.m.
Northwest Nazarene at Idaho 7 p.m.
Northern Arizona at UTEP 7 p.m.
Abilene Christian at Sacramento State 7 p.m.
Utah Valley at Weber State 7 p.m.
SUNDAY 12.18.16
Eastern Washington at Northern Kentucky 1 p.m.
South Dakota at Montana State 2 p.m.
Idaho State at Boise State University 4:30 p.m.
MONDAY 12.19.16
Southern Utah at Seattle 7 p.m
All times local to site unless noted otherwise