DWU men beat Midland 81-69

The Dakota Wesleyan men’s basketball team shot 58 percent from the field to claim an 81-69 Great Plains Athletic Conference win over the Midland Warriors Saturday at the Corn Palace in Mitchell.

It was a much-needed win for the Tigers (13-13, 8-8 GPAC) after a tough loss Wednesday to GPAC foe Morningside.

“Every win is big and we talk about it all the time,” DWU coach Shane Murphy said. “I’m proud of our guys. We were pretty disappointed coming home from Morningside and then to have our guys respond and play this well is really good.”

Midland jumped to an early 9-5 lead, but DWU responded with a 13-3 run for an 18-12 lead. The run was finished by Mike Lee, who scored six straight points After a Warrior basket, the Tigers scored six unanswered points to grab a 24-14 advantage.

But Midland went on a 16-6 run and managed to close the gap to 34-30 going into halftime.

The Warriors looked to get a fast start to open the second half as Galen Gullie nailed a quick 3-pointer and Midland trailed 34-33.

But DWU responded over the next five minutes — outscoring the Warriors 15-4 and taking a 49-37 lead. The Tigers got out to their biggest lead of the night at 59-43 behind the play of sophomore Jalen Voss.

Voss led DWU in scoring with 20 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for a double-double.

“I did pretty well defensively,” said Voss. “I tried pretty hard to stay out of foul trouble. The last couple of games I’ve been getting in foul trouble. What it came down to was being tough.”

Midland tried to get back into the contest making four three-point shots and with just over five minutes remaining in the game, Midland came within two.

But the Tigers used free-throw shooting down the stretch and the Warriors only managed four points the rest of the way.

Lee and Carde Pennington finished with 15 points each, Luke Bamberg with 11 points and five assists and Aireus Stephenson with 11 points. Kris Menning handed out five assists.

DWU was 28-of-48 for 58 percent from the floor and 17-of-19 for 90 percent from the free-throw line. The Tigers held a 33-27 rebounding advantage over the Warriors.

Avery Langford led Midland with 14 points, followed by Gullie with 13 points, Jalen Hueser with 12 points and Dylan Travis with six assists.

The Warriors (15-10, 10-7 GPAC) were 27-of-64 for 42 percent from the field and 5-of-9 for 56 percent from the free throw line.

DWU tavels to play Dordt on Wednesday in Sioux Center, Iowa.

DAKOTA WESLEYAN 81

MIDLAND 69

DWU (13-13, 8-8 GPAC)

Mike Lee 5-9 3-3 15; Kris Menning 2-3 0-0 5; Luke Bamberg 4-4 3-3 11; Aireus Stephenson 3-8 3-4 11; Jalen Voss 8-11 4-5 20; Carde Pennington 4-7 4-4 15; Bo LaCroix 0-3 0-0 0; Danny Maman 1-2 0-0 2; Jade Miller 1-1 0-0 ; Stephen Lee 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 28-48 17-19 81.

Midland (15-10, 10-7 GPAC)

Ben Imig 3-9 2-2 8; James Parrott 2-13 0-1 4; Galen Gullie 5-9 0-0 13; Jerome Vaughn 3-7 0-2 6; Brandon Williams 1-1 0-0 2; Dylan Travis 1-5 0-0 3; Avery Langford 5-7 2-2 14; Jalen Hueser 4-10 0-0 12; Trevor Bryant 2-2 1-2 5; Trace Murray 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 27-64 5-9 69.

Halftime: DWU 34-30. 3-point goals: DWU 8-18 (Menning 1, Stephenson 2, Pennington 3) Midland (Hueser 4, Gullie 3, Langford 2, Travis 1) Rebounds: DWU 33 (Voss 11), Midland 27; Turnovers: DWU 13, Midland 9; Assists: DWU 18 (Menning 5, Bamberg 5) Midland 18 (Travis 6); Total fouls: DWU 9, Midland 15; Fouled out: Midland Williams ; Technical fouls: None.

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