SEWARD, Neb. -- The Dakota Wesleyan University men's basketball team didn't look like itself on Saturday in a 71-62 loss at Concordia University in Seward, Neb.
The 23rd-ranked Tigers (8-4, 3-2 GPAC) jumped out to an early 7-2 lead, but the Bulldogs (7-6, 2-3 GPAC) answered with an 11-0 run and never looked back as a sluggish DWU squad just couldn't get into the flow of the game.
"We got off to kind of a slow start and it just stayed that way through the rest of the first half," said Tigers' head coach John Hemenway. "They were the more aggressive team, they were quicker to the ball, they shot it better and I thought the game meant a little more to their kids than it did to ours and it snowballed from there."
Part of the Tigers' first-half problems was the production, or lack thereof, from its leading scorers, Preston Broughton and Colby Fitzgerald. The two were a combined 0-for-9 from the field with eight turnovers and no points in the opening half.
"If you get that from those two kids, you're probably not going to be playing very well," Hemenway said. "They had been playing well for us, they just didn't do it yesterday."
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DWU tried to make a secondhalf run at Concordia, and with 7:20 left in the game, Fitzgerald nailed a three to cut the Bulldogs' lead to 57-54. But the home team responded with an 8-0 run over the next five minutes to regain control and seal the win.
"We had a nice run to cut it down to three, but then we went on a terrible scoring drought," Hemenway said. "It seemed like we were stuck on 54 forever."
Hemenway said that his team's biggest problem on offense was a lack of ball movement, which had been one of the Tigers' strengths to this point. He said there was too much one-on-one, and too many quick shots.
Concordia was led by a trio of players that reached double figures. Benjamin Buhr led the Bulldogs with 19 points, Dustin Weber added 14 and Scott Hannon scored 11.
DWU was led by reserve Scott Nelson, who put up a career-high 20 points. Nelson was 7-for-11 from the field and 3-for-5 on three-pointers.
"Scott was good offensively -- he was one of our bright spots," Hemenway said. "He was a spark. He got us going a little bit and had a career-high."
Fitzgerald had a more productive second half as he finished with 16 points. Brady Wiebe pulled down a team-high nine rebounds, and Broughton finished with just seven points and five boards.
row. The Tigers' had won six in a row to start out 8-2 overall and 3-0 in GPAC play, but their two losses this week drops them to 8-4 and 3-2, and will likely drop them out of the NAIA Div. II Top 25.
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The Tigers don't have long to figure out what went wrong. They travel to Madison tonight to take on Dakota State in a non-conference game at 7 p.m. After tonight's game, DWU goes on a nine-day break for finals.
"I'm glad we have another game before that break, because I think we all have a bad taste in our mouths," Hemenway said. "Hopefully we can iron out a few of these problems and play a little better. We have to snap out of this."
Vontz injured
Senior guard Marcus Vontz left Saturday's game just four minutes in with an undisclosed foot injury. Hemenway said they don't have a diagnosis yet, and aren't sure how long it will keep
Vontz on the sidelines.
"We really have no idea right
now," Hemenway said. "He was
icing it yesterday.
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"We really need the break,
especially with Marcus' foot
injury."
Vontz is the Tigers' thirdleading scorer at 10.9 points per
game. He also averages 3.3
rebounds.
CONCORDIA UNIV. 71
DAKOTA WESLEYAN 62
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Dakota Wesleyan (8-4, 3-2 GPAC)
Marcus Vontz 1-2 0-0 2, Colby Fitzgerald 5-15 4-6 16, Andrew Lasche 1-4 2-3 5, Preston Broughton 3-9 1-3 7, Ike Muoneke 2-4 1-3 5, Rocky Nelson 0-0 0-0 0, Chase Walder 1-5 0-0 3, Brady Wiebe 2-4 0-0 4, Scott Nelson 7-11 3-4 20. Totals 22-54 11-19 62.
Concordia Univeristy (7-6, 2-3 GPAC)
Brandon Schmidt 2-4 2-2 8, Austin Thoms 0-4, 3-4 3, Scott Hannon 4-14 2-2 11, Andy Miner 3-7 1-2 7, Benjamin Buhr 7-12 1-1 19, Tyler Bredehoeft 1-2 3-4 5, Dustin Weber 5-9 0-0 14, Brian Evans 0-5 0-0 0, Andy Banahan 2-3 0-0 4. Totals 24-60 12-15 71.
Halftime score-CU 36, DWU 27. Threepoint goals-DWU 7-22, CU 11-29. Rebounds-DWU 37 (Wiebe 9), CU 35. Assists-DWU 8, CU 9. Turnovers-DWU 15, CU 8. Steals-DWU 5, CU 5. Blocks-DWU 9, CU 6. Technical fouls-DWU, none; CU, Austin Thoms.
