The Big Sky conference returned to Reno and the Reno Events Center for the 2017 Big Sky Tournament, and the top seed needed overtime in the championship game to decide things.
Big Sky basketball tournament 2017: Bracket, schedule, and scores
North Dakota needed overtime but prevailed to win the Big Sky conference tournament.
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North Dakota and Eastern Washington led the conference during the regular season, with UND eventually clinching the regular season title on March 4. The Fighting Hawks are led by a pair of guards, Geno Crandall and Quinton Hooker, who are averaging 15.7 and 18.9 points per game, respectively. Head coach Brian Jones — now in his seventh year at the helm — has retained a modicum of UND’s success from a year ago, when the Hawks flamed out in overtime in the tournament’s semifinal round to eventual conference champs Weber State.
UND hasn’t won a conference title since its back-to-back triumphs in 2011 and 2012, when the Hawks were still members of the now moribund Great West Conference.
Weber State, for its part, sat among the top half of the Big Sky during the regular season. The Wildcats earned the conference’s automatic bid to last year’s Big Dance, where they took a 71-53 loss on the chin to No. 2 Xavier in the East region. Head coach Randy Rahe continues to enjoy the services of fourth-year guard Jeremy Senglin, who’s improved steadily throughout his college career and has now averaged over 20 points per game this season.
Weber State knocked off Eastern Washington in the semifinals, but fell in overtime to North Dakota in the conference tournament final.
The format
11 teams make up the tournament field, with three of those teams earning byes into the bracket’s second round. The bottom six seeds will duke it out in the tournament’s opening round.
The teams
- North Dakota
- Eastern Washington
- Weber State
- Idaho
- Montana
- Montana State
- Sacramento State
- Portland State
- Northern Arizona
- Idaho State
- Southern Utah
The bracket
Schedule and results (all times Eastern)
Tuesday, March 7 (first round)
Game 1: No. 8 Portland State 80, No. 9 Northern Arizona 67
Game 2: No. 7 Sacramento State 91, No. 10 Idaho State 76
Game 3: No. 11 Southern Utah 109, No. 6 Montana State 105 (3OT)
Thursday, March 9 (quarterfinals)
Game 4: No. 1 North Dakota 95, No. 8 Portland State 72
Game 5: No. 4 Idaho 81, No. 5 Montana 77
Game 6: No. 2 Eastern Washington 89, No. 7 Sacramento St. 70
Game 7: No. 3 Weber State 90, No. 11 Southern Utah 70
Friday, March 10 (semifinals)
Game 8: No. 1 North Dakota 69, No. 4 Idaho 64
Game 9: No. 3 Weber State 80, No. 2 Eastern Washington 72
Saturday, March 11 (finals)
Game 10: No. 1 North Dakota 93, No. 3 Weber State 89 (OT)
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