FULL STATS (LINK)
OGDEN, Utah (March 4, 2017) – North Dakota earned its first-ever Big Sky regular-season championship and the No. 1 seed at next week’s conference tournament as the 2016-17 regular schedule came to a conclusion on Saturday.
All 11 seeds have been claimed at the Big Sky tournament with No. 8 Portland State and No. 9 Northern Arizona tipping off on Tuesday at 2:35 p.m. Pacific. No. 7 Sacramento State and No. 10 Idaho State will take the court at 5:35 p.m. on Tuesday with No. 6 Montana State and No. 11 Southern Utah closing out the first round at 8:05 p.m.
No. 1 UND will open with either PSU or NAU on Thursday at 12:05 p.m. No. 4 Idaho will face No. 5 Montana at 2:35 p.m. No. 2 Eastern Washington opens tournament play against either Sac State or ISU at 5:35 p.m. and No. 3 Weber State opens play against the winner of game three at 8:05 p.m.
North Dakota 82, Portland State 73 – The Fighting Hawks clinched the No.1 seed at the Big Sky tournament and the Big Sky regular-season title with a home win over Portland State. Quinton Hooker led the way with 29 points while Geno Crandall added 21.
PSU was led by Traylin Farris with 17 points while Calaen Robinson added 15. PSU will open the tournament Tuesday at 2:35 p.m. against the No. 9 seed, Northern Arizona.
Northern Colorado 70, Sacramento State 67 – The Bears closed out their season with a hard-fought home win over Sacramento State. DJ Miles led four UNC players in double-figures with 20 points. Robert Vercellino added 13 points and five boards.
Sacramento State will enter the tournament as the No. 7 seed with the loss. Marcus Graves led the Hornets with 18 points.
Idaho 84, Southern Utah 75 – Idaho sealed a first-round bye at the Big Sky tournament with a comeback win at Southern Utah. Victor Sanders topped the Vandals with 22 points and Arkadiy Mkrtychyan added 21.
Randy Onwuasor led the Thunderbirds with 17. SUU will enter the league championship as the No. 11 seed.
Northern Arizona 76, Eastern Washington 61 – Jordyn Martin earned a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Lumberjacks to a home win in the regular-season finale. Jojo Anderson also added 20 points and nine boards while Ako Kaluna picked up 16 points and five assists.
Eastern Washington will be the No. 2 seed in Reno. Bogdan Bliznyuk led the way for the Eagles with 28 points while Jacob Wiley added 15.
Weber State 76, Montana State 67 – Weber State snapped a four-game losing streak and sealed the No. 3 seed at the conference tournament with a home win over Montana State. Jeremy Senglin led WSU with a game-high 22 points.
Zach Green paced the Bobcats with 19 points. MSU fell to the No. 6 seed with the loss and will open tournament play on Tuesday.
Montana 95, Idaho State 76 – Montana picked up its second straight bye in Reno with a win at Idaho State. Ahmaad Rorie went 10-of-16 from the field to lead the Grizzlies with 27 points.
Ethan Telfair led the Bengals with 32 points on senior night.
Big Sky Conference tournament play begins Tuesday.