As his Division I college career winds down, Anchorage’s Bentiu Panoam is playing his best basketball

When Steve Drussell takes the Bartlett Golden Bears basketball team to the sand dunes at Kincaid Park, he tells the players they’re about to work out on Mount Bentiu.

Mount Bentiu, as in Bentiu Panoam, the University of North Dakota senior guard whose workouts in are the stuff of legend at Bartlett High.

“I’ll never forget, I’m calling him to check up and it’s raining one summer,” said Drussell, the Bartlett head coach. “He said, ‘I’m going to the dunes.’ I thought he was lying, so I’m going to go over there and see, and from where we live (it) took about 25 minutes to get out there. No lie, he had his family’s white Hummer in the parking lot and there’s Bentiu running up the sand dunes in the pouring rain.

“His work ethic is second to none. I got spoiled coaching him because I was under the impression everyone would have the same demeanor and work ethic. I’m realizing that’s a once-in-a-generation kid.”

Panoam’s work ethic and perseverance are now in the NCAA Division I spotlight. After playing less than 15 total minutes in nine games before Christmas, the 6-foot-2, 168-pound Panoam is starting on a regular basis as his college career winds down.

He’s coming off his biggest weekend ever as North Dakota heads into its final two games of the regular season this week in Omaha, Nebraska. The Fighting Hawks are 8-15 overall and 7-7 in the Summit League, and last week they swept South Dakota behind two big games from Panoam. He scored a career-high 25 points in an 85-81 win last Saturday and followed up with 22 points the next day in an 85-76 win.

Since starting to play on a regular basis Jan. 9, Panoam is hitting nearly 45% of his shots and has had eight turnovers in 11 games.

“When he wasn’t playing, (Panoam) was a guy who wouldn’t complain about anything and just get the job done to the best of his ability,” teammate Filip Rebraca said. “He was waiting for his chance, got his chance and seized the moment. I’m proud and happy for Bentiu, that when the opportunity came, he took full advantage of it.”

The Fighting Hawks have used Panoam off the ball in order to stretch defenses.

“Bentiu is a lightning rod of energy, effort and enthusiasm,” North Dakota coach Paul Sather said. “When his opportunity really came on the floor, he responded well, and he’s taken off, and it’s brought confidence to him. It has brought good energy to our team.

“You could talk about Bentiu the player but what’s amazing to me is Bentiu the person — not a lot of people would fight through the way he has and kept the right frame of mind. He’s an incredible example for all of us fighting through adversity.”

Sather’s words are no surprise to Drussell, who coached Panoam in Anchorage from sixth grade AAU to his senior year of high school. He considers Panoam an extension of his own family.

After Panoam’s junior year of high school, Drussell said an unofficial player ranking came out on Alaska basketball players and Panoam wasn’t in the Top 10.

“He didn’t sit back and mope about it,” Drussell said. “It fueled a fire in him. He didn’t post about it or anything on social media, he just busted his butt.”

After the season, Panoam was named the 2016 Cook Inlet Conference Player of the Year after averaging more than 20.0 points per game.

“That boy was on a mission,” Drussell said. “If you tell him he can’t do something, he’s going to find a way to prove you wrong. Too skinny to play? He’ll just keep working. Can’t shoot the three? Next thing you know, he’s putting up 750 shots on a Sunday. That’s just who Bentiu is.”

Panoam, who is working toward a degree in finance, moved to Anchorage from Nebraska in the summer going into fifth grade.

“Growing up, the summers are fun because the sun doesn’t really go down,” said Panoam, who grew up with nine competitive siblings. “In the winter, it was all basketball because the sun’s not really out so we’re just in the gym.”

Alaska revels in the success of prominent players such as Mario Chalmers (a fellow Bartlett alum), Carlos Boozer and Trajan Langdon. Panoam also points to other Alaskans who made it in Division I basketball, players like Devon Bookert at Florida State, Jalil Abdul-Bassit at Oregon, Damon Sherman-Newsome at Colgate, Jack Hobbs at Hartford and Tommy Hobbs at New Orleans.

“I got it from the older guys,” said Panoam, who also gives credit to his mentor David Bullock. “They rep Alaska hard. We all know the talent up there.”

After high school, Panoam didn’t have the college offers he had hoped for. UAA wanted him to run track and play basketball, but he wanted more. So he attended a prep school in Las Vegas — Impact Academy — for one season. After that, he spent one season at Northwest Kansas Tech, a junior college in Goodland, Kansas.

Drussell remembers calling on weekends to catch up when Panoam was in Kansas. Panoam would tell his old coach about being in the library and sending out game film to college coaches. The first weekend Panoam told Drussell he sent film to 75 coaches. The next weekend it was 250. In total, Panoam sent film to 600 college coaches. Drussell said.

Most schools wanted Panoam to play another year of junior college, but the videos caught the eye of former North Dakota assistant coach Steve Grabowski, now at Utah State, who flew out to see Panoam and offered him a scholarship.

In Panoam’s sophomore season — his first at North Dakota — he started eight games while standout guard Marlon Stewart sat out the first half of the season for academic reasons. He played sparingly the rest of the season after Stewart’s return.

As a junior, Panoam battled through a coaching change when head coach Brian Jones left for an assistant job at Illinois State and Sather replaced him. Panoam played in just 15 games and averaged a little more than 6.0 minutes per game that season.

He kept working, and when he finally got his chance this season, he was ready.

“I can’t really be down because someone is playing over me,” Panoam said. “I have to do my part. That wasn’t hard for me. I’m going to do what I need to do for the team.

“When my opportunity came, I took advantage and played free and didn’t worry about anything. My teammates always trusted in me. I was comfortable out there.”

This story was originally published in the Grand Forks Herald.