Men's Basketball

Fighting Hawks rally late to upend Tommies, advance to title game

The Basics
Score: No. 3 North Dakota 67, No. 2 St. Thomas 66
Records: St. Thomas (24-9, 12-4 SL), North Dakota (18-16, 10-6 SL)
Location: Denny Sanford PREMIER Center - Sioux Falls, S.D.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – George Natsvlishvili’s free throw with one tenth of a second remaining lifted No. 3 seed North Dakota to a 67-66 comeback victory over No. 2 seed St. Thomas in the semifinals of the Summit League Men’s Basketball Championship at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center. 

Tied at 66-all, the Fighting Hawks came up with a steal with two seconds left after Eli King picked off an errant pass, pushed the ball up the court to the 6-foot-10 Natsvlishvili, who was fouled on a layup attempt right before the buzzer. After missing his first two free throw attempts minutes earlier, the 58-percent foul shooter on the season, buried his first attempt to set up a title-clash with in-state rival and top-seeded North Dakota State.

St. Thomas looked poised to take the last shot after coming up with its own steal with 24 seconds remaining. The Tommies called timeout with 22 seconds remaining but didn’t wind up getting off a shot for the lead because of the steal by King – the conference's defensive player of the year.

In a game that featured 12 ties and eight lead changes, it was the Tommies, who held the lead for a majority of the contest before the redshirt freshman Greyson Uelmen willed his team to another victory after dropping a career-high 41 points in the quarterfinal-win over Denver.

In this one, Uelmen scored 19 of his game-high 28 points during a second half that did not see the Fighting Hawks take the lead until 5:19 left in regulation when the all-league second teamer sank a pair of free throws.

Nolan Minessale, who led his team with 23 points, kept the Tommies right in it down the strech with eight points in the closing minutes, including a driving layup that pulled his team even at 66 after Uelmen had put the Hawks ahead on the proceeding possession.

King (17) and Garrett Anderson (11) also scored in double figures for the Fighting Hawks, while Ben Oosterbahn added 16 points and five boards for the Tommies.

The Fighting Hawks will play the Bison for the league's NCAA automatic bid at 8 p.m. CT on CBSSN.

Turning Point
UND trailed 54-48 with less than 8 minutes remaining. Then Uelmen and King made back-to-back 3-pointers to knot the score. Neither team led by more than three the rest of the way.

Inside the Box Score 
  • St. Thomas finished with 60 field-goal attempts compared to UND’s 44 due in large part to a 39-25 edge in rebounding, including a 14-1 edge on the offensive glass.
  • The Tommies led for 26 minutes and 37 seconds compared to 5 minutes and 22 for the Fighting Hawks.
  • UND missed 10 shots from the free-throw line and St. Thomas missed eight.
  • Uelmen is averaging 34.5 ppg in the tournament and shooting 22-for-30 from the field (73.3 percent).
  • Minessale finished with back-to-back 20-point games in the tournament, after scoring 22 in the quarterfinal win over South Dakota State and 23 against the Fighting Hawks -- those two pushed his total 22 such occurences during the season. 
News & Notes
  • Uelmen was a walk-on before earning a scholarship during this season.
  • North Dakota is seeking its first Summit League title. It’s best finish so far was runner-up in 2020 when the Fighting Hawks also squared off against their in-state foes.
  • The teams split their two regular-season meetings. Included in that: The Fighting Hawks ended the Tommies’ 28-game home win streak with a 81-80 decision on Jan. 29 on another late-game steal that led to a game-winning layup by King.
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