Dakota Wesleyan men edged by Northwestern

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ORANGE CITY, Iowa — Luke Bamberg knocked down a pair of free throws with 1:23 left to play for Dakota Wesleyan University to give his team a 72-71 lead, but the Tigers could only get one field goal from there.

No. 7-ranked Northwestern defeated DWU 77-74 Wednesday night in a Great Plains Athletic Conference men’s basketball game.

After Bamberg’s free throws, the Red Raiders got a jumper from Daniel Van Kalsbeek and two free throws from Ben Miller for a three-point lead.

Wesleyan’s Carde Pennington hit a jumper with 15 seconds left to pull the team within 75-74. The Tigers (9-10, 4-6 GPAC) had two possessions to try to tie the game, one was a turnover and the other was a long shot at the buzzer.

“I really felt like we were in a position to get a win,” Tigers coach Shane Murphy said. “We let it slip through our fingers, and every game is so crucial for us because of the hole we’ve dug.”

Mike Lee had a game-high 20 points for the Tigers, who shot 43 percent from the field. Pennington had 17 points and Aireus Stephenson had 10 points and eight assists. Jalen Voss had a team-best seven rebounds and added six points.

Wesleyan held a 10-point lead with 6:54 to play in the first half. But that changed to a one-point Northwestern lead at halftime.

“The biggest thing was we came out playing really good basketball and we established a game plan,” Murphy said. “In the second part of the first half, we allowed them to get some offensive rebounds. And on the put-backs, we fouled them and we got in trouble. That was a big swing point in the game.”

Murphy mentioned the importance of both teams’ free-throw shooting. The Tigers were 8-of-15 from the foul line, while the Red Raiders were 25-of-31. Wesleyan also had 13 rebounds in the game and was outrebounded 36-31.

Miller and Van Kalsbeek each finished with 19 points for the Red Raiders.

Dakota Wesleyan is back in action at 4 p.m. Sunday in a GPAC game against Hastings in Hastings, Neb.

The DWU JV basketball team hosts Northwestern at 8 p.m. today at the Christen Family Recreation/Wellness Center.

No. 7 NORTHWESTERN 77,

DAKOTA WESLEYAN 74

DWU (9-10, 4-6 GPAC)

Luke Bamberg 2-5 3-5 7, Jalen Voss 3-4 0-1 6, Mike Lee 7-16 3-4 20, Kris Menning 2-10 1-2 6, Aireus Stephenson 4-11 1-3 10, Carde Pennington 7-9 0-0 17, Bo LaCroix 1-4 0-0 2, Danny Maman 1-4 0-0 2, Stephen Lee 1-2 0-0 2, Jade Miller 1-2 0-0 2. Totals: 29-67 8-15 74.

NW (14-4, 8-2 GPAC)

Levi Ettleman 2-3 0-0 4, Stu Goslinga 4-6 6-6 14, Josh VanderPlaats 1-3 2-3 4, Ben Miller 7-14 5-7 19, Zack Leeper 2-10 0-0 4, Rob Gill 2-3 0-0 4, Ian Mozeleski 0-0 0-0 0, Joey Habtemariam 0-2 0-0 0, Bryce Moss 3-4 3-3 9, Daniel Van Kalsbeek 5-10 9-12 19. Totals: 26-55 25-31 77.

Halftime: NW 35-34. 3-Point goals: DWU 8-23 (Lee 3, Pennington 3, Menning, Stephenson), NW 0. Rebounds: DWU 31 (Voss 7), NW 36 (Leeper 9). Assists: DWU 14 (Stephenson 8), NW 10 (Miller 4). Turnovers; DWU 13, NW 15. Total fouls: DWU 22, NW 18. Technical fouls: None.

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