North Dakota State University Basketball Team Headed for the Big Dance!!

On Tuesday March 10, 2009 Sioux Falls, S.D.- Ben Woodside led the NDSU Bison basketball team to victory by making a 17-foot jumper with only 3 seconds left to give North Dakota State a 66-64 win Tuesday night against Oakland University for the Summit League championship and also a berth in the NCAA tournament. NDSU trailed much of the game by 14 points in the first half and needed a rally in the final five minutes to earn an NCAA bid in its first year of Division I eligibility.Ben Woodside was not the only player that stepped up majorly for the Bison’s, Michael Tveidt's made a 3 point shot this was his fourth of the game which put the Bison ahead 64-62 with only 1:26 remaining on the clock and capped an eight-point run.

This was an indeed a very intense game, I was so into it as I watched and didn’t take my eyes off the television even for a second. Oakland tied the game with a power dunk by Keith Benson's with only 12 seconds left on the clock. After this I was really shocked that the Bison’s didn’t call a time out. In most situations like this, it’s usually a given that a timeout would be called. However rather than calling a time out, North Dakota State rushed down court very quickly, set up a screen for Woodside, who then smoothly sank a shot from the top of the key, this was so unbelievable I couldn’t contend myself I was screaming full of excitement.

There was a final attempt by Oakland’s Johnathon Jones with a long 3 point shot at the final horn which bounced out.Tveidt was the highest scoring of the game leading NDSU with 21 points. Woodside, who is the conference player of the year scored 60 in a game earlier this season, and added another 17 against Oakland.Other effective players were Erik Kangas and Will Hudson who each had 16 points, Jones added 15 and Keith Benson had 14 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. The last 5 minutes of the game was such a big game changer because Oakland surged ahead in the first half on 63 percent shooting. The Bison’s trailed all through the game and but still won at the end. The Golden Grizzlies cooled down to 32 percent in the second half.