Tiger men fall to Northwestern in overtime

ORANGE CITY, Iowa – The Dakota Wesleyan University men's basketball team headed to Orange City, Iowa, in search of its first win against Northwestern College since the 2010-11 season Wednesday night, and the Tigers almost capitalized.

DWU, which led much of the first half, was down by as many as 14 points in the second half, but made a late run, and a three by Trae Bergh with five seconds left in regulation tied the game at 58 and sent it to overtime. The Red Raiders, however, outscored DWU 12-8 in overtime to come away with a 70-66 win.

Northwestern (10-8, 3-5 Great Plains Athletic Conference) led by 14, 45-31, with 7:58 left in regulation after a jumper by Zack Leeper, but Jade Miller hit a 3-pointer that sparked a 13-3 run for the Tigers and cut the gap to four, 48-44, with 4:36 left to play. The Red Raiders pushed their lead back to eight, but Bergh hit a three, and Northwestern fouled both Bergh and Kris Menning while shooting threes, and both made all three free throws to cut the Red Raiders' lead to 58-55 with 45 seconds left.

Leeper missed a shot with 15 seconds left, and Bergh hit a three with five seconds remaining to send the game into overtime. Northwestern scored early in overtime, and the Tigers missed a pair of free throws to tie the game before the Raiders scored again to go up four, 62-58. Menning hit a pair of free throws, but Northwestern went on a 7-0 run to go up nine, 69-60, with 37 seconds left. Menning hit a three, and hit another three with four seconds left, but it wasn't enough.

The Tigers (10-8, 3-5) started the game by taking an 11-4 lead less than five minutes in. DWU maintained that lead, and led by seven with 5:07 left in the first half, but Isaiah Taylor and Rob Gill hit threes to make it a one-point game, and Leeper hit a three at the buzzer to put Northwestern up two, 24-22, at halftime.

DWU tied the game to start the second half, and tied the game again at 28 on a pair of free throws by Tate Martin, but the Raiders went on a 7-0 run to go up 35-28, and pushed their lead to 14 before the Tigers made their comeback.

Jalen Voss finished with 21 points to pace DWU, which shot just 27.7 percent from the field. The Tigers went 18-for-65, including 8-for-36 from long range. Menning added 19 points and Bergh had nine. Voss also had 15 rebounds for the Tigers, who went 22-for-28 from the line and had 42 rebounds and 10 turnovers.

Leeper had a game-high 26 points for Northwestern, which shot 38.2 percent from the field. Joey Habtermariam added 12 points and Levi Ettleman had 10 rebounds. The Raiders hit five threes, went 13-for-21 from the line and had 47 rebounds and 12 turnovers.

Dakota Wesleyan is off until Wednesday, Jan. 15, when it hosts Mount Marty College at 8 p.m. Wednesday's game will be the Silent Night game, and the crowd is to remain silent until the Tigers score their 10^th point against the Lancers, and then make as much noise as possible when DWU's 10^thpoint is scored.