DWU men end home season with win over Northwestern

MITCHELL, S.D. – The Dakota Wesleyan University men's basketball team capped off an exciting night of basketball with a 102-85 win over Northwestern College Wednesday night at the Corn Palace.

The win marked not only the first win over the Red Raiders since Feb. 16, 2011, when DWU won 90-87 on a last-second 3-pointer, but also the first sweep of Northwestern for the Tiger men and women since Feb. 11, 2009. Dakota Wesleyan is now 15-13 overall and 8-10 and in seventh in the Great Plains Athletic Conference with two games left in the regular season.

Neither team was able to pull away in the first half, and the Tigers led by a single point at halftime Wednesday night. The score stayed close early in the second half, but after the Red Raiders took a 54-53 lead on a layup by Jordan Baker, Dakota Wesleyan went on a 24-6 run that spanned six minutes and ended with a 77-60 lead for DWU with 11:04 left to play. Jade Miller started and ended the run with a 3-pointer, and Jalen Voss and Trae Bergh each added a long-range shot for the Tigers as part of the run.

Northwestern got within 10, 77-67, with 8:28 remaining on a three by TJ Buyert, but Voss hit a free throw and later scored on a layup and Stephen Lee hit a three to push DWU's lead back to 14, 87-73, with 5:31 to go. Bergh added another three to make it a 16-point game with four minutes left, and a three by Kris Menning put the Tigers up 20, 102-82, with 1:20 left to play.

Neither team was able to hold onto a lead to start the game. Tate Martin hit a three to put DWU up six, 12-6, with 16:55 left in the half, but the Raiders responded with a three of their own. DWU later pushed its lead to eight, 19-11, on a three by Menning, but Northwestern cut the lead back to two, 19-17. A three by Lee put the Tigers up seven, but Northwestern responded with a 9-3 run to make it a one-point game, 27-26, with 10:16 left in the half.

The Red Raiders took a one-point lead at 34-33, and used a 10-3 run to go up eight, 44-36, with 3:08 left in the half. DWU responded with a 6-0 run to make it a one-point game, and a pair of free throws by Luke Bamberg gave the Tigers a 47-46 lead at halftime. The Red Raiders took over the lead early in the second half, but DWU's late run put the game away.

Voss and Bamberg both finished with double-doubles to lead the DWU men. Voss had a game-high 33 points and 13 rebounds and Bamberg added 11 points and 12 rebounds as well as five assists. Bergh had 20 points and five assists and Menning added 17 points for DWU, which shot better than 52 percent from the field. The Tigers went 23-for-33 from the line and had 47 rebounds and 12 turnovers.

Joey Habtermariam led Northwestern (14-13, 7-10) with 18 points, Baker added 17, Zack Leeper chipped in with 13 points and Rob Gill finished with 10. Levi Ettleman had a team-high seven rebounds for the Red Raiders, who shot 44 percent from the field and went 12-for-18 from the line. Northwestern had 36 rebounds and six turnovers.

DWU is on the road to finish the regular season. The Tigers take on Hastings College at 4 p.m. Saturday in Hastings, Neb., and travel to Yankton, S.D., Feb. 19 to take on Mount Marty College.