There was a tense moment on Friday in the Corn Palace when Dakota Wesleyan University's Jalen Voss got into foul trouble early.
However, Voss -- the Tigers' leading scorer -- bounced back with 19 second half points and helped No. 4 DWU defeat Great Plains Athletic Conference member Concordia University 91-78.
"We have a lot of trust in Jalen," DWU head coach Matt Wilber said. "A lot of younger guys don't do as well with (early foul trouble). But when you have a senior like that, you can trust that if he's struggling early on, he can come back and be successful."
The 6-foot-7 forward finished with 25 points, converting 10-of-18 shots from the floor including going 3-of-3 from long range.
Despite sitting on the bench for an extended period of time during the first half, Voss said not playing for a long duration didn't bother him.
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"Wilber always tells me to let the game come to me," Voss said. "In that situation, I didn't try to just go out and score, but (it turned out that way)."
Concordia (7-7, 4-5 GPAC) jumped out to a 9-2 lead, but DWU (13-1, 6-1 GPAC) fought back offensively, shooting 55 percent from the field while the Bulldogs shot 50 percent.
"We had to shoot (that well) to beat them," Wilber said. "That score did not feel like that at all. We're going to have games where we're sluggish, but we have to find out ways to grind out possessions and that's what we did tonight."
While Voss had to sit out, the Tigers received plenty of help from long range, as Trae Bergh and Joey Mitchell picked up the slack offensively. Bergh finished with 22 points and was 6-of-9 from long range while Mitchell had 18 and was 5-of-8 from downtown.
"Those guys are confident shooters," Wilber said. "When you have confident shooters, you leave them alone and let them shoot that thing."
Concordia outrebounded DWU 27-26, while the Tigers had 21 assists to the Bulldogs' 16. The Tigers made 15 of 25 3-pointers while Concordia was 11-of-17 from beyond the arc.
Robby Thomas led the way for Concordia offensively with 20 points, including shooting 7-of-11 from the floor.
Bulldogs head coach Ben Limback said that his team needed to play great throughout the contest in order to upset DWU, but it didn't turn out that way.
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"I think they're going to have targets on their back the rest of the season," Limback said. "Rightfully so, they're a good team. We didn't sustain the offense and they did. I like the way we played in the second half but against teams like this you can't have those lapses."
The Tigers next play Concordia College (Canada) at 5 p.m. in the Northwood classic on Dec. 29 in West Palm Beach, Fla.
Notes: Wilber confirmed after the game that junior forward Terrell Newton had ruptured his achilles in practice and will miss the remainder of the season. He added that it was a no-contact injury.
Concordia (78)
Robby Thomas 7-11 2-2 20; Micah Kohlwey 6-9 1-1 16; Joel Haywood 1-7 0-0 3; Rudy Knight 0-6 0-0 0; Chandler Folkerts 5-6 3-4 13; Kevin White 1-3 0-0 2; Eli Ziegler 4-5 0-0 11; Max Wegener 3-6 1-1 7, Seth Curran 0-0 0-0 0, Alex Wakefield 0-0 2-2 2; Justin Damme 2-5 0-2 4; Nathan Toenjes 0-0 0-0 0
Dakota Wesleyan (91)
Jalen Voss 10-18 2-2 25; Luke Bamberg 3-3 0-0 6; Trae Bergh 8-11 0-0 22; Kris Menning 4-12 0-0 8; Joey Mitchell 6-10 1-1 18; Tate Martin 1-2 1-3 3; Jade Miller 3-3 0-0 7; Luke Carr 0-0 0-0 0; Stephen Lee 0-1 0-0 0; Jason Spicer 1-5 0-0 2
CU 29 49 78
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DWU 45 46 91
3-point field goals -- Concordia 11-17 (Thomas 4-6, Kohlwey 3-4, Haywood 1-1, Knight 0-2, Ziegler 3-4), DWU 15-25 (Voss 3-3, Bergh 6-9, Menning 0-3, Mitchell 5-8, Miller 1-1, Lee 0-1); Rebounds -- Concordia 27 (Folkerts 5), DWU 26 (Menning 9); Assists -- Concordia 16 (Thomas 3, Kohlwey 3), DWU 21 (Bergh 5); Steals -- Concordia 2 (Thomas 1, Haywood 1), DWU 5 (Bamberg 2, Martin 2); Fouls -- Concordia 14, DWU 16; Fouled out -- Concordia (none), DWU (none).
