Morningside spoils GPAC home opener for Dakota Wesleyan men behind timely late run

MITCHELL In a back-and-forth battle with 15 lead changes and 11 ties, a late 9-0 run by Morningside proved to be the difference on Wednesday night. The visiting Mustangs created an eight-point lead in the final three minutes and outlasted the Dakota Wesleyan University men’s basketball team down the stretch to spoil the Tigers’ Great Plains Athletic Conference home opener 81-75 at the Corn Palace. DWU had a chance to tie up the contest late with a 3-point shot down 75-72, but Morningside grabbed a five-point lead with under a minute to go behind a crucial layup from Caleb Dreckman to seal the victory. Tigers head coach Sam Nicholson said he was proud of the team’s resilience to the end, but needed to find an extra gear to come away with a win in the closing minutes. “We have talked a lot about playing a full, 40-minute game, and today we felt like we played 35-to-36 minutes,” Nicholson said. “In the postgame, we were just talking about consistency, and having good practices, and how that will translate to playing 40 minutes when you are doing it day in and day out.” The finish was not like the start for the Tigers, who opened the game with an early 15-5 push in less than four minutes of first-half action. Morningside climbed right back into it after its shaky start to cut into the deficit behind seven-straight points. Then, it was a game of runs for the remainder of the half, as the score was deadlocked at 37-all at the halfway point. At the break, DWU had 16 paint points of its 37 total behind Steele Morgan’s presence inside and Randy Rosenquist Jr’s ability to crash the offensive glass at the guard position. In the first half, Morgan tallied 13 points and six rebounds as Rosenquist had six points and six rebounds one offensive putback. “We get in the habit of not being able to maintain the pace we are playing at down the stretch,” Nicholson said of the team’s fast-paced start. “I am playing guys for a lot of minutes, and a lot of it is that they are getting tired. So, we’re trying to run the same system as when we’re fresh, and it can get sticky sometimes later in the game.” The Tigers had 12 turnovers for the game, as the Mustangs had 13, and both teams capitalized off the turnovers with 17 points each. DWU went 28-for-61 from the field (45. 9%) and 12-for-26 from 3-point range (46. 2%), as Morningside shot 56. 1% from the field with 13 3-pointers. Morgan tied the team-high in points with 16, and added six rebounds, four assists and one steal. Easton Neuendorf had 16 points and four assists, while Rosenquist posted a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds, and added three steals and two blocks. Anthony Riggans posted 10 points and five rebounds, as Tyson Stevenson had seven points, three rebounds and two steals. For Morningside, four of its five starters were in double-figures, providing 62 of its 81 points. Daniel Brocaille led the team with 17 and had four rebounds. Kaden Van Regenmorter tallied 16 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Caleb Dreckman posted 15 points, five assists and four rebounds, as Alex Wilcoxson had 14 points and four rebounds. DWU is back in action next against Midland for its second-straight home conference matchup at 3: 45 p. m. Saturday, Nov. 22, at the Corn Palace. “We just need to find some consistency moving forward,” Nicholson said. “Tomorrow we’re going to keep practice short because we are playing some guys a lot of minutes, but we want it to be crisp and high energy. Then, we do that again on Friday and just keep stacking good days to hopefully lead to more consistency on the floor come Saturday.”.
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