Miller, NDSU hold off Fort Wayne, advance in Summit tourney

Mar 5, 2019, 02:33 am

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- Paul Miller scored 18 of his 29 points in the second half to help North Dakota State hold on for an 86-82 win over Fort Wayne on Sunday night in the first round of the Summit League Tournament.

Miller hit 5 of 8 from 3-point range and grabbed eight rebounds. Deng Geu added 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting, Tyson Ward scored 13 and AJ Jacobson 12 for No. 5 seed North Dakota State (15-16).

The Bison will play top-seeded South Dakota State in the semifinals on Monday.

Ward and Miller each hit a 3-pointer before Ward made a layup to make it 10-0 fewer than two minutes in and Jared Samuelson hit two 3s in a 40-second span to spark a 15-3 run that made it 45-27 after Geu's 3-point play with 3:31 left in the first half. NDSU pushed its lead to 23 points on three occasions in the second half, but the Mastodons used runs of 17-5 and 10-3 to trim their deficit to 81-80 after a layup by Bryson Scott with 1:29 to play. Fort Wayne committed two turnovers and went 1 for 3 from the field from there and NDSU held on.

Scott and John Konchar scored 29 points apiece for fourth-seeded Fort Wayne (18-14).