Tiger men upset Midland in GPAC tournament

FREMONT, Neb. – The Dakota Wesleyan University men's basketball team shook up the Great Plains Athletic Conference postseason tournament bracket Wednesday night with an upset of Midland University in the first round.

The Tigers – the tournament's sixth seed – upset third-seeded Midland, which is eighth in the NAIA, 83-80 in Fremont, Neb., to advance to the tournament semifinals Saturday. DWU travels to Sioux City, Iowa, for a 3 p.m. game against second-seeded Morningside College on March 1. The Mustangs held on for an 87-84 win against Briar Cliff University Wednesday night to advance.

DWU (18-13) led the Warriors (26-4) throughout the game, and pushed its lead to double digits late in the first half. The Tigers maintained a lead throughout the second half, and a pair of free throws by Tate Martin put DWU up 10, 78-68, with 56 seconds to go.

But Galen Gullie hit a three, the Tigers turned the ball over and Ben Imig hit a long three to make it a three-point game, 80-77, with 29 seconds left. Luke Bamberg was fouled and hit two free throws to make it a five-point game, 82-77, with 11 seconds left to play, but Midland hit another three – this one by Avery Langford – with three seconds left to make it a one-possession game. Martin was fouled with one second on the clock and hit one of his free throws to put DWU up three, and the Warriors missed a last-second three to allow DWU to hold on for the win.

Trae Bergh and Jalen Voss scored the first 14 points of the game for the Tigers and helped DWU to a 14-10 lead less than six minutes into the game. Midland hung around, and tied the game at 24 with 8:55 left in the half, but Dakota Wesleyan responded with a 17-3 run to go up 11, 41-27, with 2:38 left in the first half. The Tigers led 45-33 at halftime.

Midland started the second half on an 8-0 run to make it a four-point game, 45-41, with 15:50 left to play, and cut the gap to three a few minutes later. But Bamberg hit a pair of free throws to spark a 9-0 run that ended with a three by Bergh and put DWU up 57-45 with 9:17 remaining. Midland cut the gap to six, but Bergh stopped the run with a 3-pointer to put the Tigers up nine, 69-60. A three by Midland made it a four-point game, 70-66, but Martin hit a three, Bergh hit a pair of free throws and Bamberg hit a free throw to put DWU up 10, 76-66, with 1:11 remaining, to set up the final minute of the game.

Bergh finished with 25 points to lead DWU, including six 3-pointers. He also had six rebounds. Voss finished with 24 points and 11 rebounds and Jade Miller also added 11 points. DWU shot 44.8 percent from the field and hit 11 3-pointers. The Tigers went 20-for-27 from the line and had 33 rebounds and 11 turnovers.

Imig scored a game-high 30 points for the Warriors. Alex Starkel finished with 13 points, Gullie had 10 and Brandon Williams had 10 points and seven rebounds. Midland shot 48.5 percent from the field, but hit just seven threes and went 9-for-19 from the line. The Warriors had 36 rebounds and nine turnovers.

The Tigers are 0-2 against Morningside so far this season. They lost 92-84 to the Mustangs at the Corn Palace Jan. 29, and turned around and lost a 101-82 game five days later in Sioux City. Morningside was receiving votes in the NAIA both times.