Avants leads N. Dakota past Sacramento St. 90-73

Mar 2, 2018, 12:14 am

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Conner Avants scored a career-high 26 points shooting 12 of 16 from the field and Geno Crandall scored 19 and North Dakota topped Sacramento State 90-73 on Thursday night.

Justin Strings made two free throws to put the Hornets ahead 24-23 with 6:16 before halftime before North Dakota responded with an 18-7 run to close the half.

Crandall and Dale Jones made back-to-back 3-pointers for a 64-51 lead with 10:48 left and North Dakota led by double digits the rest of the way.

Cortez Seales scored 15 for the Fighting Hawks (11-18, 6-11) and Kienan Walter and Billy Brown each scored 12. The Fighting Hawks shot 30 of 54 (55.6 percent) including 12 of 23 from 3-point range.

Joshua Patton led Sacramento state with 24 points, made all nine field goal attempts and grabbed eight rebounds and Justin Strings scored 21 for Sacramento State (6-24, 3-14).