Wesleyan men drop second straight

• Jalen Voss

Dakota Wesleyan’s Jalen Voss (30) reaches for a ball that was knocked away from him during Wednesday’s game against Mount Marty at the Corn Palace. (Justin Rust/Republic)

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For the second straight game, the Dakota Wesleyan Tigers had a chance to win the game in regulation.

For the second straight game, DWU fell short as the Tigers lost 70-68 to Mount Marty in a Great Plains Athletic Conference battle Wednesday at the Corn Palace.

Trailing 69-65 with 22 seconds left to play, the Tigers’ Jake Kneeland hit a 3-pointer to pull DWU to within 69-68.

The Lancers Mitch Ackelson was fouled with 21.7 seconds to go. He made the first free throw, but missed the second and Mount Marty got the rebound.

This time, the Lancers’ Joe Hieb was fouled. He missed both free throws, but the ball went out of bounds off the Tigers. The ensuing pass was stolen by DWU, setting up the final play in the waning seconds.

After a time out, Carde Pennington missed a short shot and Mount Marty grabbed the rebound and the win.

One word summed up the game and this stretch of games where the Tigers have lost four of their last five — frustration, according to DWU coach Shane Murphy.

“I knew that we would come out and play hard,” Murphy said. “But you have to make good decisions and we have to defend better then we did in the first half. (Mount Marty) shot 66 percent in the first half and we had 22 turnovers for the game. That’s not going to get it done.”

The Lancers raced out to a 23-13 lead to open the contest. The Tigers answered with six points from Jalen Voss and a basket from Mike Lee to close the gap to 23-21 with just under three minutes until halftime.

Mount Marty expanded the lead back to 10, but DWU closed out the half with a 8-2 run and went into intermission trailing 39-35.

The second half saw the squads battle evenly, with neither team building a lead bigger than five points.

“We’re getting out-worked inside and we have to get better defensively,” Murphy said. “It seems like it’s been more than the last two games. It’s been every game this year. “

Voss led DWU with 17 points, followed by Lee and Kneeland with 15 points each. Jordan Long dished out six assists.

The Tigers (7-6, 1-5) were 24-of-51 for 47 percent from the field and 16-of-19 for 84 percent from the free-throw line.

DWU held a 32-27 rebounding advantage.

“These guys are finding ways to win and it’s nice coaching teams like that,” Mount Marty coach Jim Thorson said. “You start thinking that they’ll find a way to win instead of a way to lose and we did.”

Spencer Yackley scored 23 points and handed out five assists to pace the Lancers. Mitch Ackelson added 15 points and Jeff Viereck scored 10 points.

Mount Marty (7-3, 4-2) was 28-of-54 for 52 percent from the floor and 11-of-18 for 61 percent from the free throw lien.

The Lancers turned the ball over 16 times.

DWU plays Friday at Crete, Neb., to take on Doane College.

MOUNT MARTY 70,

DAKOTA WESLEYAN 68

DWU (7-6 1-5)

Justin Nelson 0-4 0-0 0; Kris Wilson 2-6 3-4 7; Mike Lee 6-11 1-1 15; Jalen Voss 5-8 7-9 17; Jordan Long 1-2 2-2 4; Carde Pennington 3-6 2-2 8; Kris Menning 0-0 0-0 o; Bo LaCroix 0-1 0-0 0; Luke Bamburg 1-3 0-0 2; Jake Kneeland 6-9 1-1 15; German Madueno 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-51 16-19 68.

MOUNT MARTY (7-3 3-2)

Will Eddie 1-2 1-3 4; Mitch Ackelson 5-10 5-6 15; Tom Kahler 0-3 0-0 0; Scott Oderkirk 0-1 0-0 0; Spencer Yackley 10-14 3-3 23; Tyler Payer 2-4 0-0 5; Joe Hieb 4-10 0-4 9; Anthony Rutledge 0-0 0-0 0; Chevy Fischer 5-9 0-0 10; Jeff Viereck 5-9 0-0 10. Totals: 28-54 11-18 70.

Halftime: Mount Marty 39, DWU 35.

3-point shots: MMC 3-5 (Payer 1-2, Hieb 1-2, Fischer 1-1), DWU 4-17 (Lee 2-4, Kneeland 2-4, Wilson 0-1, Long 0-1, Pennington 0-1, LaCroix 0-1, Bamberg 0-1); Rebounds: DWU 32 (Wilson, Voss 5), MMC 27 (Ackelson 6); Turnovers: DWU 22, MMC 16; Assists: DWU 14 (Long 6), MMC 18 (Yackley 5); Blocks: DWU 3 (Voss 3); MMC 2 (Yackley, Viereck 1); Steals: DWU 7 (Wilson 3), MMC 11 (Yackley 5) Fouls: DWU 16, MMC 17; Fouled out: DWU Kneeland; Technical fouls: None.

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