There weren't many areas on the floor that the Dakota Wesleyan University men's basketball team didn't dominate Tuesday.
DWU shot 50.7 percent percent from the floor and held the Mount Marty College Lancers to 42.4 percent in a 104-75 win at The Corn Palace.
"I thought it was a step in the right direction (defensively)," DWU head coach Matt Wilber said. "I was pretty impressed with how Mount Marty came out in the first half, they were really aggressive. I still think we need to get better in that area but I thought we were more active and we played with better energy. We have to keep making that a focus, frankly."
Coming off a 45-point performance in his last contest, DWU senior guard Trae Bergh led all scorers with 29 points. Jade Miller had 20 points, while Tate Martin chipped in 15 points and 10 assists for his third double-double of the season.
"I'm playing with a lot of confidence right now," Bergh said. "Our offense is really starting to click and gel. We're all just starting to figure each other out and I'm getting good looks and knocking them down."
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Tuesday marked the fifth-straight game DWU has scored at least 101 points.
"I just have to credit our guys for buying into each other," Wilber said. "We had a lot of really good things going on offensively. Trae Vandeberg's energy was at a really high level for us tonight, and so was Brady Wohler's. Those have been two guys that we've been trying to mix in with guys that were coming back, and I really loved our energy tonight."
DWU outrebounded the Lancers 41-33 and had 24 assists to Mount Marty's 11. The 7-2 Tigers led the Lancers 57-41 at halftime.
"In the second half, we started off with the mentality that we had to fly around and get loose balls," Martin said. "I think all our guys showed that in the second half. I think Vandeberg had big time energy on defense."
DWU takes on Dordt College at 8 p.m. on Dec. 2 in Sioux Center, Iowa.
NOTES: Trae Bergh is one 3-pointer away from tying DWU's career three-point shot record. He sits at 248 career 3-pointers, with the record being 249.
Dakota Wesleyan University 104 (7-2, 3-0 GPAC)
Trae Bergh 10-17 4-5 29, Terrell Newton 0-2 0-0 0, Tate Martin 6-8 1-2 15, Jade Miller 8-14 1-3 20, Trae Vandeberg 4-11 1-3 10, Brady Wohler 2-4 6-7 10, Jon Harmening 4-7 1-2 10, Jason Spicer 1-2 0-0 2, Jordan Marquardt 0-3 0-0 0, Coby Johnson 1-2 0-0 3, Tate Lindsay 0-0 1-2 1, Aaron Ahmadu 1-1 0-0 2, Kellen Barden 1-4 0-0 2, Jesse Taylor 0-0 0-0 0, TOTALS 38-75 15-24 104
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Mount Marty College 75 (0-8, 0-3 GPAC)
KJ DeCristino 3-10 2-2 9, Anthony Stransky 5-12 0-2 14, Drew Matsushima 1-5 1-2 4, Alex Irvine 2-5 0-0 5, Patrick Ciganovic 5-8 0-0 11, Deric Denning 0-1 2-3 2, Jalen Hurley 1-5 2-2 4, Cody Willett 2-4 2-2 7, Taylor Millay 5-8 6-6 16, Drew Cheskie, 0-0 0-0 0, Jeremy Grundmayer 0-0 0-1 0, Ben Hegge 0-0 0-0 0 TOTALS 25-59 15-20 75
Halftime score: DWU 57, MMC 41. Three-point goals: DWU 13-35 (Bergh 5, Martin 2, Miller 3, Vandeberg 1, Harmening 1, Johnson 1), MMC 10-26 (DeCristino 1, Stransky 4, Matsushima 1, Irvine 1, Ciganovic 1, Telles 1, Willett 1); Rebounds: DWU 41 (Harmening 11), MMC 33 (Ciganovic 9); Assists: DWU 24 (10), MMC 11 (Telles 2, Matsushima 2).
