Dec. 13, 2005

Box Score

FARGO, N.D. - Senior center Yemi Nicholson (Aurora, Colo.) recorded a season-high 27 points on 11-of-14 ( .756) shooting to go along with his eight rebounds and two blocks, but it was not enough as the Denver Pioneers fell, 79-66 to the North Dakota State Bison on Tuesday evening at Bison Sports Arena. The Pioneers second-consecutive loss drops them to 5-3, while the Bison improve to 4-5 with their second-consecutive win.

"They turned up the heat in the kitchen and became so much more aggressive they we were," said head coach Terry Carroll. "We forgot how we built that early seven-point lead by reversing the ball and attacking the rim."

Despite seven points from Nicholson in the second half's first five minutes, the Pioneers only managed to chip one point off their 10-point half time deficit. A Walker 3-pointer with 11:56 remaining in the contest trimmed the debit to 52-43. A 6-0 run capped by NDSU's Ben Woodside pushed their lead to 58-45 at the 8:07 mark. Denver got as close as five with 1:26 remaining but were unable to roundup the Bison.

Junior guard DaShawn Walker (Chicago, Ill.) added 15 points for Denver. Andre Smith (19), Woodside (17), Winkelman (14) and Mike Nelson (13) led the Bison.

NDSU made 42.9 percent (6-14) of its 3-point attempts.

The Pioneers, who were up by as many as seven (15-8) in the first half, ended the half down by 10, 37-27. DU jumped out to an early 4-0 lead but two free throws by Winkelman with 16:19 remaining in the first half made the score 6-4. DU's lead grew to seven off five consecutive points by Walker, but a driving-layup by the Bison's Ben Woodside at the 12:40 mark pulled NDSU to within 15-10.

The Bison kept charging forward and a 3-pointer by Phil Hahn tied the game at 21-21 with 8:14 left in the half. NDSU's lead expanded to six, but was trimmed to 29-25 by a Nicholson dunk at the 4:08 mark. The Bison responded and ended the half with a 9-2 run.

Nicholson had 10 first-half points off 5-of-6 shooting. Smith led NDSU with 11 points.

DU plays game three of its five-game road trip at Stanford on Mon., Dec. 19 at 8 p.m. MT. The game can be heard live on KKFN AM 950 "The Fan" and DenverPioneers.com.