GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- The Thunderbird men's basketball team dropped a nail-biter in North Dakota on Thursday evening, as they fell to the Fighting Hawks 61-57.   

"We've got to finish the opportunities we get," SUU head coach Todd Simon said. "We missed a lot of shots at the rim, especially in the last five to seven minutes, but we'll learn from it. We'll shoot better from the free throw line, we'll take care of the ball and be better next time."

The loss moves the T-Birds to 10-14 on the season, and 4-9 in the Big Sky Conference.

With two seconds remaining in the contest the Thunderbirds trailed by just one, and Jamal Aytes drew a foul and made his way to the free throw line. Unfortunately, Aytes couldn't connect on the front end and North Dakota came down with the rebound.

"He's going to be in that position again hopefully, and next time he's going to make it," Simon said about Aytes. "There's a reason we went to him, we got the call we wanted, it just didn't quite fall."

UND went up by three after a pair of free throws, and the T-Birds weren't able to get another look at the basket.  

Jadon Cohee led the Thunderbird offensive attack on Thursday night, finishing with 14 points of 4-of-4 shooting from behind the three point line.

"We always trust that Jadon can score," Simon said. "He knocked down four threes as a major contributor, he's playing the best defense of his life and we've got a lot of faith in him."

Aytes and Dwayne Morgan both finished with 11 points on the evening. Jacob Calloway pulled down a season high 10 rebounds in the contest, while Aytes and Morgan combined for 13 boards.

Geno Crandall led the charge for the Fighting Hawks, putting up 17 on the T-Birds. Kienan Walter also finished with 15 points for UND in 24 minutes.  

"We played good enough on the defensive end and on the glass to win the game," Simon said. "We've got to cut down turnovers, make free throws, make a few more shots around the rim and hope we're a different team. Those are things we've shown we can do and will do in the future."

The Thunderbirds will continue their road trip on Saturday, when they square off against the Bears of Northern Colorado.

That game is scheduled to tip off at 7 p.m. MT.

Follow the Thunderbirds all season @SUUBasketball on Twitter and Instagram and by liking the Southern Utah Basketball page on Facebook.