DWU men beat Doane for first GPAC win

MITCHELL, S.D. – The Dakota Wesleyan University men's basketball team picked up its first win of the year Saturday night when it defeated Doane College 85-78 at the Corn Palace. The Tigers are now 6-7 overall and 1-4 in the Great Plains Athletic Conference.

Dakota Wesleyan used a big first half to propel itself to the win. Junior Jalen Voss went 9-for-10 from the field and had 23 first-half points, and the Tigers shot 63 percent from the field as a team, including 6-for-10 from long range.

The DWU Tigers took their first lead of the game early on a pair of free throws by Voss, and later back-to-back 3-pointers from Anthony Muilenburg and Trae Bergh made it an 11-point game, 22-11, with 12:13 left in the first half. Doane cut into the lead, but DWU ended the half on an 11-5 run and led 46-31 at halftime.

Dakota Wesleyan maintained its lead early in the second half, and made it a 17-point game on a layup by Stephen Lee less than three minutes into the half. A three by Lee made it an 18-point game less than two minutes later, but Doane went on an 11-1 run that spanned more than four minutes and cut DWU's lead to seven, 56-49, with 11:53 left to play.

Doane (6-7, 1-6) made it a six-point game with just over 10 minutes left, but the DWU Tigers responded with a 6-2 run that pushed their lead back to 12, 68-57, with 7:43 remaining. DWU maintained its lead through the final minutes of the game, and Doane made it a five-point game on a jumper by Nick Reed with 36 seconds left, but Kris Menning hit a pair of free throws to help seal the win.

Voss finished with 27 points and six rebounds to lead Dakota Wesleyan, which shot 57.4 percent from the field and went 7-for-16 from long range. Tate Martin added 16 points and Menning finished with nine. DWU went 24-for-31 from the line and had 31 rebounds and 13 turnovers.

Reed had a game-high 28 points for the Doane Tigers and Deonte Holt added 15. Doane shot 53.7 percent from the field, including 61.5 percent in the second half, and went 12-for-19 from the line. They had eight 3-pointers, 21 rebounds and 11 turnovers.

Dakota Wesleyan is on the road Wednesday, Dec. 18, when it travels to Aberdeen, S.D., to take on Presentation College at 7:30 p.m.