Tigers lead at halftime but fall to Dakota State

Dakota State University finished off a season sweep of Dakota Wesleyan University Wednesday at the Corn Palace in Mitchell.

The Trojans (13-5) rallied from a three-point halftime deficit and shot 70 percent from the field in the final 20 minutes to defeat DWU 73-58 in a nonconference men’s basketball game.

The Tigers’ 58 points tied a season low in scoring and they have now lost five of their last six games.

“I don’t know if it’s the intensity level or what it is,” said DWU coach Shane Murphy, whose team is 9-12 on the year. “I just want guys to come out and compete and perform. We didn’t have guys do that for 40 minutes.”

Dakota Wesleyan — which lost to DSU 68-64 on Nov. 10 — led 24-21 at halftime in the in-state rivalry game. But Tigers forward Jalen Voss picked up his third foul less than two minutes after the break and DSU led 30-24 at the 16:26 mark. After giving up its lead, Wesleyan never regained control.

DSU’s 16-4 run midway through the second half included three 3-pointers. Wesleyan’s Kris Menning, who had a team-high 19 points, scored the Tigers’ only baskets during the stretch that lasted about four minutes. The Trojans’ biggest lead was 22 with five minutes to play.

“I thought defensively we played really good the whole game,” DSU coach Gary Garner said. “… The adrenaline was flowing, and the second half we settled down.”

Garner’s team jumped out to a nine-point lead to open the game, but Wesleyan tied it at 11 on a run where Voss scored six points in less than two minutes. DWU missed four free throws in the bonus in the final minutes of the first half, leading to a tough second half that DSU controlled.

“I’ve been saying all along that we come out flat and haven’t done a very good job at the start of games,” Murphy said. “We keep digging ourselves these holes and it’s hard to overcome that.”

Voss had 10 points in the first half before getting into foul trouble in the second half. He finished with 12 points and a game-high 15 rebounds. Aireus Stephenson, Carde Pennington and Danny Maman each had seven for the Tigers, who shot 31 percent from the field in the game and had 19 turnovers to DSU’s 17. DSU’s John Lamb hit six 3-pointers and had a game-high 28 points.

Wesleyan is back in action Sunday, when it hosts Concordia at 4 p.m. at the Corn Palace in a Great Plains Athletic Conference game.

NOTES: The Dakota Wesleyan University men’s JV basketball team lost to Iowa Lakes Community College 83-54 Monday night. DWU’s Thomas Geraets had a team-high 15 points. Kyle Mathis and James O’Halloran each had nine for the Tigers, who are 3-5.

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