College basketball: North Dakota's Quinton Hooker breaks multiple milestones in win

North Dakota junior Quinton Hooker put together one of the most impressive two-game stretches in UND men's basketball history as the Fighting Hawks moved into a tie for third-place in the Big Sky standings with two league wins. He averaged 36.0 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 3.5 apg and 2.0 spg, while shooting 81 percent from the field (26-for-32),  73 percent from 3-point range (8-for-11) and 92 percent from the foul line (12-for-13) to keep UND in the hunt for a first-round bye at the conference tournament.

In Thursday's 80-77 victory over Portland State, Hooker broke UND's Division I single-game scoring record with a career-high 38 points, which were also the most by a Big Sky player in a game this season. He made a career-high 15 field goals on 20 attempts and also knocked down a trio of 3-pointers, while going 5-for-5 from the free-throw line. Hooker had 18 points in the first half and eclipsed the 1,000-point plateau for his career with 20 points after the break, including two free throws with nine seconds left that sealed the win for the Fighting Hawks. He is the 35th player in UND history to break into that club and just the 10th junior to accomplish the feat.

In Saturday's 97-71 victory over Sacramento State, Hooker scored 34 points and made 11 straight field goals after missing his first shot of the game to help UND set its Division I single-game record for field goal percentage (63 percent). After the Hornets tied the game at 11-11 just over six minutes into the contest, Hooker scored 10 straight points for the home team, including the first eight in a 65-second stretch. UND never trailed again as Hooker finished 11-for-12 from the field, including sinking a career-high five 3-pointers without missing from beyond the arc. He also went 7-for-8 from the charity stripe.

Hooker currently ranks second in the Big Sky in scoring (19.9 ppg), sixth in assists (4.1 ppg), second in steals (2.0 spg), sixth in free-throw percentage (83.8) and his 48.7 field-goal percentage is second among league guards. In Big Sky action, Hooker leads the league in 3-point percentage (46.9), is third in scoring (21.3 ppg), eighth in field-goal percentage (53.3), second in steals (2.2 spg) and tied for seventh in assists (4.4 apg).