Men's Basketball Remains Perfect at Home With 82-62 Win Over Stetson

Friday, November 28

Greeley, Colo.

7:00 p.m.

University of Northern Colorado

3-2

Stetson

2-5

STET

UNCO

Photo by: Dean Popejoy

11/28/2014 11:32:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Senior guard Tevin Svihovec and senior forward Tim Huskisson combined for 33 points in the Bears win.

By: UNCBears.com

GREELEY, Colo. – An 11-0 run in the beginning minutes of the first half jump started Northern Colorado's (3-2, 0-0 Big Sky) offense, aiding the Bears to an 82-62 win over Stetson (2-5, 0-0 Atlantic Sun).

Picking up right where he left off from the Colorado Christian game, sophomore guard Jordan Wilson nailed a three-pointer four minutes into the first half, sparking the 11-0 run, capped off by a big dunk from redshirt freshman Jeremy Verhagen to give UNC a double-digit advantage, 17-6 over the Hatters with 13:02 to play in the first half.

"I saw some really good things tonight," Head Coach B.J. Hill said. "Our assist to point ratio was good, we had almost an assist for every two buckets which is something we have not done a lot so far this year if you look at our numbers, so I'm happy with that. I challenged the guys at halftime to step up defensively because I was not pleased with our defense in the first half. We were ahead going into halftime because we were making shots not because we were doing anything spectacular on defense, but I thought they responded really well and that's a mark of a team that's starting to mature."

Stetson battled back over the next two minutes and cut the lead down to nine, 20-11 after a drive to the basket from guard Divine Myles, but that is as close as the Hatters would come to catching Northern Colorado for the rest of the contest.

The Bears maintained their 11 point lead over the next six minutes of play.

After a sophomore guard, Cameron Michael trey-ball, UNC went on another run, this one good for nine straight points finished off by two makes at the charity stripe from senior guard, Tevin Svihovec giving the Bears a, 39-22 advantage.

With less than two minutes remaining, sophomore guard, Anthony Johnson sunk back-to-back shots from beyond the arc to push the Northern Colorado lead to twenty one, 45-24 over Stetson.

UNC entered halftime in control, 47-30 over the Hatters.

Northern Colorado was unconscious on offense in the first half shooting 60.7% (17-28) from the field and connected on 6-10 (60.0%) shots from three-point land. Stetson posted a 52.4% shooting percentage from the floor, but was held to just 3-9 (33.3%) from beyond the arc.

The Bears took advantage of turnovers in the first 20 minutes of action, scoring 17 points off of Stetson miscues.

Senior forward, Dominique Lee had the hot hand in the second half, scoring the first six points for UNC and regaining the twenty point advantage for the Bears.

"Our previous games we really haven't gotten out to a good start," said Lee. "We wanted to come out and set a tone and the seniors stepped up. The rest of the team did their part and we combined those to aspects and took over the game. All I want to do is help the team win and I feel like I did that tonight."

Both teams traded buckets over the course of the next seven minutes of action.

The Hatters mustered one last attempt at a comeback after hitting back-to-back three-balls and a free throw to cut their deficit down to fourteen, 64-50 with 8:12 to play in the game.

The Bears quickly regrouped on the other end of the court on the ensuing possession after Michael found a wide-open junior forward Cody McDavis for the bucket and the foul. McDavis' shot at the free throw line was good to complete the original three-point play and cushioned the lead back to seventeen.

Northern Colorado put it on cruise control for the next eight minutes and coasted to the, 82-62 win. The Bears are now a perfect, 3-0 at Bank of Colorado Arena.

"The longer we can keep going to our bench and having guys produce, the better we will be defensively," Hill said. "It's all about practice. I know it sounds cliché, but these guys are going to earn the minutes they get in practice and that competitive nature I hope will allow us to continue to go to the bench."

Northern Colorado racked up a remarkable 42 points off the bench compared to Stetson's 22.

UNC ended the contest 29-52 (55.8%) from the field, but were held without a three-pointer in the entire second half.

Svihovec led all scorers on the night with 18 points, adding three rebounds and two assists. Huskisson wasn't far behind his fellow senior, recording 15 points and four boards. Lee also managed to get into double-digits with 10 points, while leading the team in rebounds with seven in the win.

The men's basketball team has a quick turnaround, hosting Florida A&M this Sunday, Nov. 30 at 2:00 p.m.