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GRAND FORK, N.D. — Davion Berry had 21 points and Frank Otis had a double-double as the Weber State men's basketball team got back on the winning track with a 66-51 win at North Dakota Thursday night in Grand Forks.
Otis scored Weber State's first six points then freshman Joel Bolomboy scored the next seven points and the ‘Cats held a 13-11 lead with 9:50 to play in the first half and never trailed again. The Wildcats led by 10 with five minutes to play but UND rallied back and cut the Weber State lead to 29-26 at halftime.
Weber State extended the lead to 14 points early in the second half but North Dakota cut the lead to 41-36 with 12:02 remaining. The ‘Cats led by five points again at 53-48 with 6:44 remaining when they went on a 9-1 run to lead by 13 with 3:18 to play and never looked back. "We knew we had to man up as a team and get our defense and rebounding back and I thought we did that," said WSU head coach Randy Rahe. "We played with a lot of toughness and energy and had a lot of guys step up and really contribute for a team win. We were able to find a way to win."
The Wildcats shot 46 percent from the field compared to 36 percent for North Dakota and the ‘Cats outrebounded UND 40-28. Weber State shot 56 percent from the field in the second half.
Berry finished with 21 points with 17 coming in the second half. He was 7-13 from the field, including 3-4 from three-point range.
Otis posted his third career double-double finishing with a career-high 20 points and also pulled down a season-high 12 rebounds. Otis was 8-11 from the field and a perfect 4-4 from the foul line. He leads the Big Sky in field goal percentage.
"I had some really good scoring opportunities tonight but it just feels great to get the win," Otis said. "The last few games were didn't play like ourselves and we needed to get back to being who we are and we did that tonight. Getting the win is all that matters."
Bolomboy had nine points and nine rebounds off the bench on 3-3 shooting, in addition to three blocked shots. Scott Bamforth added seven points and Kyle Tresnak had 10. It was Weber State's first ever game in the state of North Dakota and just the second against UND.
With the win the ‘Cats improve to 14-5 overall and 9-2 in league play. They will conclude their four game road trip at Northern Colorado on Saturday, before returning home for four straight home games.
