Ward and Geu mirror effort to boost N. Dakota St past UCSB

FARGO, N.D. (AP) Tyson Ward and Deng Geu each scored 16 points with six rebounds and North Dakota State beat UC Santa Barbara 82-63 on Sunday.

Vinnie Shahid's 3-pointer with 9:26 before halftime put the Bison up 15-13 and North Dakota (1-1) never trailed again. North Dakota led 36-28 at intermission, and after the break, Rocky Kreuser hit a 3 and threw down a dunk and the lead stretched to 13. The teams traded free throws, and the Gauchos trimmed the deficit to five points, but Jared Samuelson and Shahid hit 3s, Ward made a pair of free throws and the Bison led by 13.

Cameron Hunter finished with 11 points for the Bison and Jordan Horn scored 10.

Devearl Ramsey led UC Santa Barbara (1-1) with 13 points, Armond Davis scored 12 and JaQuori McLaughlin and Sekou Toure each scored 10.