OREM, Utah – North Dakota benefitted from a controversial call in the game's closing moments as Patrick Mitchell broke a tie with a pair of free throws with 1.6 seconds left, and the Fighting Sioux edged Houston Baptist, 65-63, in the semifinals of the Great West Conference Tournament Friday night at the UCCU Center.

Mitchell was fouled by HBU sophomore forward Lamar Thomas near the right baseline after the Huskies had tied the game with five seconds left. On the prior possession, Huskies senior guard Andrew Gonzalez was fouled by Mitchell on a three-point attempt and knocked down all three free throws to tie the game, 63-63.

“As I told the guys in the locker room – I thought they deserved better,” head coach Ron Cottrell said. “They fought extremely hard, they gave it everything they had and throughout the game, they answered the challenges every way they could. You have a tie ballgame and your opponent shoots 16 more free throws than you do, and that call at the end – they deserved better.”

Gonzalez scored 24 points to move up to 13^th on the Huskies' all-time scoring list, grabbed six rebounds and had three steals, while senior forward Fred Hinnenkamp had 13 points and four rebounds for HBU (5-26). Senior guard Michael Moss added 11 points, five rebounds and his three steals set the single-season record at HBU with 87. He had a steal in every game this season giving him a streak of 32 dating back to last year. Senior guard Shawn Echols added two points, four rebounds, three assists and a steal, and played solid defense on Troy Huff, who shot only 5-of-12 from the field after scoring 36 on the Huskies last Thursday. The four Husky seniors gave every ounce of energy they had left in their final game.

Huff led North Dakota (18-14) with 16 points, while Mitchell finished with 14. Jamal Webb had 11 points, six rebounds and seven assists, while Derek Benter added 10 points and eight rebounds off the bench.

North Dakota shot 46.8 percent from the field for the game, but only 25.0 percent (4-for-16) from 3-point range, while HBU shot 39.3 percent from the field, including 31.3 percent (5-for-16) from behind the arc. The Huskies made all 10 of their free throws, but the Fighting Sioux made 17-of-26 from the line. North Dakota outrebounded HBU, 38-29, but turned the ball over 20 times.

“I couldn't be prouder of our guys – they did everything we asked them to do,” Cottrell said. “We ran play after play and got shots that we wanted to get, and we got an unbelievable number of stops. Our offense didn't click in either of the two games here, but our defense was the best I can remember us playing all year. The guys really wanted it badly and laid it out on the line every time down the court.”

Schuler put North Dakota back up by one on the first possession of the second half and the Fighting Sioux extended the lead to three on a dunk by Huff. They led by five until Gonzalez's three-point play wth 16:08 left made the score 41-39. North Dakota was effective inside with Benter and Brekke and led 53-47 with 6:49 left in the game. Back-to-back baskets by Hinnenkamp got HBU within two, but Webb answered with a layup for a 57-53 lead. Gonzalez's baseline floater cut the deficit to 57-55, the Huskies forced a turnover, then Gonzalez drilled a stepback 3-pointer to put the Huskies' up, 58-57, with 3:33 to go. Webb hit a three from the corner as North Dakota reclaimed a two-point lead, but Gonzalez tied it with a pair of free throws at 60-60 with 2:11 left. Webb made the second of two free throws with 1:56 on the clock, but missed a pair at the 1:31 mark. Huff slapped the ball away from Gonzalez with 26 seconds left, but Moss chased down Huff and knocked his layup attempt out of bounds. Huff made a pair of free throws with 21 seconds left to put North Dakota up by three.

Hinnenkamp and Moss opened the game with back-to-back threes as the Huskies scored eight of the first nine points. The Huskies extended their lead to 12-4 on Bembry's tip-in with 16:22 left, Gonzalez hit a three from the corner and Echols made a fastbreak layup after a steal to put them up 17-6. The Fighting Sioux answered with a 14-0 run, which included back-to-back 3-pointers by Mitchell and Huff and a breakaway dunk and layup by Huff to take a 20-17 lead with 10:42 remaining.

Moss hit a jumper and Evans drove in for a layup to reclaim the lead, 21-20, with 8:42 to go. Schuler nailed a three, while Webb and Mitchell made layups to put North Dakota up by six with 4:41 left. A pair of free throws by Gonzalez cut the deficit to one and his alley-oop layup from Echols on an inbounds gave HBU a 32-31 lead with 1:22 left. Gonzalez hit a floater to give the Huskies a three-point lead, but Ben Benter hit a hook in the lane as HBU took a 34-33 edge into the break.

HBU shot 38.2 percent from the field, including 33.3 percent (4-of-12) from behind the arc, in the first half, while North Dakota shot 50.0 percent form the floor and 33.3 percent (3-of-9) from long range. The Fighting Sioux, however, turned the ball over 10 times and made only 4-of-9 free throws, while the Huskies had only five turnovers and made all four of their free throw attempts. Gonzalez led the Huskies with nine, while Mitchell had 11 at the half for the Fighting Sioux.