ORANGE CITY, Iowa — The Dakota Wesleyan men’s basketball team limited Northwestern to two points over the final 4 1/2 minutes, allowing the Tigers to swipe a 64-63 Great Plains Athletic Conference win on the road Monday night.
A 3-pointer with 4:32 to play put Northwestern up 61-56, but an 8-0 run by DWU spanning just 1:19 gave the Tigers a three-point edge. A go-ahead 3-pointer by Koln Oppold with 2:20 remaining was the Tigers’ final score of the game, as they’d cling to the three-point lead they created to down the Red Raiders.
It was a hard-earned result for DWU (12-11, 8-7 GPAC), which led for just under 11 minutes in the contest compared to Northwestern (16-7, 9-6 GPAC), which played with a lead for more than 22 minutes. The Red Raiders also created the game’s largest separation — 11 points at 29-18 in the first half — as the Tigers never led by more than five.
In the end, it was the distance shooting that accounted for the biggest disparity between the two sides, with DWU connecting on 13 of 34 attempts (38.2%) compared to just 3 of 26 (11.5%) for the home team.
Kallan Herman led all scorers with 22 points powered by six 3s to go with three assists. Oppold and Jakob Dobney each had 15 points and seven rebounds, dishing out four and three assists, respectively. Dobney, a 6-foot guard, also recorded three blocks. Diang Gatluak pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds with four points and three assists, and Blaze Lubbers grabbed eight boards with two points and three steals.
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Craig Sterk paced Northwestern with 20 points, nine rebounds, three assists and six blocks, while Dillon Carlson contributed 18 points and four rebounds. No other Red Raider had more than five points.
DWU hosts Jamestown on Wednesday, Feb. 1, at the Corn Palace with tipoff following the women’s game.
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