DENVER – The University of Denver men's basketball team fought hard before falling late on Thursday, losing 82-71 to North Dakota. The Pioneers were led by Jase Townsend's game-high 23 points, his fifth game this year scoring at least 20.

DU had four players score in double figures in the loss.

The Fighting Hawks were led by Marlon Stewart's 22 points.

Denver got off to a solid defensive start, holding North Dakota to 1-for-8 shooting in the first five minutes of the contest.

Pioneers got doubled up North Dakota by the under-12 media timeout after a pair of made free throws from Townsend made it 11-5, giving the sophomore his fourth and fifth points of the half.

The Fighting Hawks responded with a 10-0 run to take a four-point edge at 15-11 after a pair of free throws.

UND extended its lead to 11 by the half, up 39-28.

DU was able to limit North Dakota to 37.9 percent shooting in the first 20 minutes of action, highlighted by a 3-for-15 (20 percent).

UND hit 3-of-3 from the field to take a 46-36 lead to the first media timeout with 16:35 left in the second half.

 A De'Sean Allen-Eikens layup extended the Fighting Hawk lead to 14 with 15:41 to go in the game, its largest lead of the game.

David Nzekwesi slammed home a dunk and completed the and-one at the line to end a 2:55 DU scoring drought at the 13:40 mark, making the score 50-39 with UND ahead.

After going 2-of-10 from the field over a 7:20 span, Roscoe Eastmond knocked down a 3 to cut the Denver deficit to single-digits, 54-46.

DU worked its way back into this one with a6-0 run over a 1:43 span that included a Townsend pull-up to make it a four-point game at the under-8 media timeout, 56-52.

Townsend wasn't done yet, hitting two jumpers to cut the UND lead to one on two separate occasions during a 38-second period.

The Fighting Hawks, though, found separation after making 5-of-6 from the field over a 4:34 span to take a 66-59 advantage and force a DU timeout with 4:51 remaining in the contest.

Taylor Gatlin cut the North Dakota lead to four with 1:51 left but never got any closer than that the rest of the way.

UP NEXT:
Denver (4-12, 0-2 Summit League) heads to the road for a meeting with South Dakota (9-7, 0-2 SL) on Sunday in Vermillion. Game time is set for 2:30 p.m.

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