@unco_mbb Blows by Sacred Heart on Thanksgiving

Thursday, November 24

Las Vegas, NV

3:00 p.m.

University of Northern Colorado

2-3

Sacred Heart University

1-4

Northern Colorado

Sacred Heart

11/24/2016 5:24:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Kobee Stalder, UNCBears.com

LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Northern Colorado (2-3, 0-0 Big Sky) had much to be thankful for on Thanksgiving Day. The Bears earned their first win over a Division I opponent on Thursday, defeating Sacred Heart (1-4, 0-0) 81-59 in the opening round of the Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational.

How It Happened:
The Bears got off to a slow start in the first 10 minutes of the ball game. After needing just two minutes to put up seven points, UNC's offense stalled out, adventuring on two, three-plus minute scoring droughts.

Sacred Heart took advantage of the Bears' offensive woes, extending its lead into double figures (25-15) with 9:20 to play in the first half.

The Pioneers built their lead to as many as 12 points (27-15), before Northern Colorado got hot.

The Bears outscored SHU 22-9 in the final nine minutes of the half to take a one-point, 37-36 lead into the locker room.

Northern Colorado secured runs of 8-0 and 7-0, putting themselves right back into the game at 30-30 at the 3:13 mark.

Much of the credit can go to the UNC bench for getting the team back into the game. Junior guard, DJ Miles came off the bench put up eight of his 17 points in the first half. Miles was 3-of-6 from the field and 2-of-3 from beyond the arc in the first act.

The Bears also got solid production from freshman guard, Kyle Carey, who finished with five first half points and fellow freshman, Kai Edwards, who had four points.

If anything, the effort at both ends of the court only got better in the second half. Northern Colorado outscored the Pioneers 30-7 through the first 13 minutes of the game, including a 17-0 run that went from 14:17 to the 11:05 point.

UNC was especially lethal from three-point range. The Bears shot 8-of-15 (53.3%) from beyond the arc in the second half, and 13-of-24 (54.2%) for the game, pouring 39 in of their 81 points on three-point field goals.

On the defensive end, Northern Colorado limited Sacred Heart to just 21 points in the second half and held them to 22.2% (6-of-17) from the field.

Sophomore guard, Jordan Davis put on a show in front of his hometown crowd. The Las Vegas product produced his second double-double of the season, dropping a game-high 25 points with 12 rebounds and dished out seven assists.

Three other Bears reached double figures on the afternoon. Miles finished with a career-high 17 points, Carey scored a career-best 10 points and redshirt freshman guard, Jonah Radebaugh notched a career-high 14 points in the 22-point victory.

Game Changer:
Junior guard, DJ Miles came off the bench and had a day. Miles scored a career-high 17 points in the win, finishing 6-of-11 from the field and 5-of-7 from three-point range.

Key Stat:
After trailing Sacred Heart by 12, 27-15 with 8:53 to play in the first half, Northern Colorado outscored the Pioneers in the final 28:53 of the game, 66-29.

In Their Words:
Head Coach Jeff Linder
"Once we kind of got going, I thought really the ones that gave us that spark were DJ Miles and then Kyle Carey off the bench, and Kai Edwards. That's when we started getting stops. They (Sacred Heart) are a team that we thought if you can force them to shoot shots over the top of you and know personnel, in terms of [Quincy] McKnight trying to score every time he touches it – we thought we could guard them the way we did guard them."

On the defensive effort
"I thought Jonah Radebaugh did an unbelievable job in the second half, once again on someone else's best player. He held [Quincy] McKnight to eleven points on twelve shots, that's about thirteen points below his season average, but collectively though, it was great effort all-around."

"It all starts at the defensive end. When you put together three stops in a row, it eventually demoralizes them. In fairness to Sacred Heart, they've been on road since last Wednesday, so that was kind of one of the messages we gave to the team. I didn't think our team was quite ready to go home yet, but I'm not quite about that team over there, so let's see what we could do. We only turned the ball over three times in the second half, as opposed to six in the first half. I Overall, it was a great win and now it's on to the next one."

Notables:
- Redshirt sophomore guard, Chaz Glotta scored the first five points of the game for UNC, but was forced to leave the game just six minutes into the contest due to an ankle injury.
- The Bears finished with a season-low nine turnovers.
- UNC ended up shooting 50% from the floor on 31-of-62 shooting, while limiting the Pioneers to just 35% on 20-of-57 from the field.
- Northern Colorado outrebounded Sacred Heart, 45-31, with four players for the Bears hauling in five-or-more rebounds.
- UNC got 33 points from its bench in the 22-point win.
- This was the first time in program history the Bears had played on Thanksgiving Day, moving them to 1-0 all-time in Turkey Day games.

Up Next:
Northern Colorado will now take on Bucknell (4-2, 0-0 Patriot) on Friday, Nov. 25 at 3:00 p.m. (MT) from the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. The Bison also earned an opening round win over Norfolk State, 84-58 on Thursday.