VALLEY CITY – Hunter Sand scored a career-high 31 points as VCSU's bench sparked the Vikings to an 84-65 win Saturday night against Presentation College.
Sand knocked down six 3's and scored 23 second-half points to highlight a 66-point night by VCSU's bench players. Cayden Rickard and Duoth Gach each scored 12 points off the bench, and Daevonte Munson added seven points and three assists.
"Our bench really carried us to that win," said VCSU head coach Ryan Montgomery. "Hunter Sand coming off the bench and sparking for 31 points is outstanding and shows the depth on our team."
The Vikings built a 45-32 lead in the first half, but saw it quickly disappear in the second half as the Saints went on a 17-4 run that tied the game at 49-49 with 13:16 remaining.
From there, it was all Sand, Munson and Rickard. The trio combined to score VCSU's final 35 points, including a stretch of 11 straight points by Sand and 27 in a row by Sand and Munson that gave the Vikings a 76-56 lead with 5:36 remaining and put the game out of reach.
Valley City State improves to 12-8 overall and 3-4 in the North Star Athletic Association. Presentation College drops to 8-12 overall and 1-6 in conference play.
Since returning from injury last week, Munson has provided a high-energy spark for the Vikings in the last four games. On Saturday, he filled up the stat sheet with seven points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals in 13 minutes.
"Daevonte brings a lot of energy and a lot of athleticism off the bench," said Montgomery. "We're very happy to have that. Daevonte makes the little plays that we're really looking for right now."
Valley City State shot 56 percent overall (30-54), 54 percent on 3's (14-26) and 10-for-12 on free throws. Sand went 6-for-8 from 3-point range as part of his 31-point performance. Rickard, Duoth Gach and Eddie Oyet each made a pair of 3's.
Travez Nyx led the Saints with 15 points and three assists, while Lavell Brown scored 14 points and Dwight Felton added 11 points off the bench. The Saints shot 39 percent overall (22-56), 30 percent on 3's (8-27) and 72 percent at the line (13-18).
The Vikings finished with 17 assists – including five by Joshua Kelly – and forced 17 turnovers. VCSU forced 12 of those turnovers in the first half, helping to build a 45-32 lead at halftime.
After posting a 3-4 record during the first half of the conference season, Montgomery says VCSU's defense will be the key in the second half of NSAA play.
"Our defensive consistency has been an issue," he said. "We have spurts where we play really good full and half court defense, but we don't play 40 minutes of it. We're still searching for it, and once we find that we're very, very dangerous, but we need to find that."
Up next: Valley City State starts the second half of conference play with games at Presentation College on Jan. 28 and Mayville State on Jan. 29. The Saints and Vikings will play a 5:30/7:30 doubleheader in Aberdeen on Friday, Jan. 28.
