DWU men fall in overtime in GPAC semifinals

SIOUX CITY, Iowa – After pulling off the only upset in the first round of the Great Plains Athletic Conference Tournament Wednesday night when it upset No. 8 Midland University, the Dakota Wesleyan University men's basketball team appeared poised to pull off a second upset Saturday afternoon.

The Tigers led second-seeded and No. 15 Morningside College much of the game, forced and overtime and looked ready to play another five minutes with the score tied in the final second of the first overtime.

Jade Miller tied the game at 106 on a pair of free throws with 23 seconds left, and Tanner Miller missed a 3-pointer with five seconds left that would have put the Mustangs up. Jalen Voss pulled down the rebound, but was called for traveling and Morningside got the ball under its own basket with 0.5 seconds left on the clock.

The Mustangs got the ball in and Andrew Christen hit a fade away jumper as time expired to life Morningside to a 108-106 win over DWU. The Mustangs (24-8) advance to the GPAC championship game Tuesday against Dordt College. The win also gave Morningside the GPAC's second automatic bid to the NAIA National Tournament in Branson, Mo. Dordt earned the first bid by winning the league's regular-season title.

Dakota Wesleyan, which was picked to finish ninth in the conference, ends the season 18-14 overall. The Tigers finished sixth in the league and pulled off a handful of upsets over the course of the season, including a season sweep of Hastings College – which was in the top 15 in the NAIA both games – and a road win against Midland in the first round of the conference tournament. DWU returns its entire roster next season and loses no one to graduation.

DWU led by as many as 10 points in the first half, but neither team led by  more than five points in the second. The Tigers led by three points after Jalen Voss scored to make it a 90-87 game with 3:44 left, but Tanner Miller hit a three to tie the game. Voss hit a pair of free throws to go up two with 2:51 left, and Kris Menning later hit a pair of free throws with 2:16 left to go up 94-93 with 2:16 left. Morningside took a two-point lead on another three by Miller, but Voss tied the score with 1:29 to play, and both teams missed game-winning shots in the final minute to send the game to overtime.

The Mustangs outscored the Tigers 8-3 to start overtime and grabbed a 104-99 lead with 2:14 left. Morningside made it 106-101 with 1:20 left, but Luke Bamberg hit a three and Jade Miller hit two free throws to tie the game at 106 with 23 seconds left and set up the last-second finale.

DWU, which shot 54 percent from the field, snagged an early lead thanks to baskets by Voss and Bamberg and threes from Menning. Menning gave DWU a nine-point lead, 14-5, with less than four minutes gone, and a three by Miller at the 13:46 mark put the Tigers up 10, 19-9. The Mustangs cut into the lead, but DWU stayed on top until Danny Rudeen hit a three to give Morningside its first lead of the game, 39-37, with 3:17 left in the first half. DWU was able to tie the score several times, but the Mustangs led 48-46 at halftime thanks to two free throws from Rudeen.

The lead changed hands four times to start the second half, and neither team led by more than a few points. Voss and Miller scored back-to-back buckets to put the Tigers up five, 76-71, with 7:55 left to play, but Dakota Wesleyan was unable to maintain that lead, and the game stayed close through the remainder of regulation.

Menning finished with 31 points on 10-of-18 shooting for DWU, which hit 12 3-pointers and was a perfect 22-of-22 from the line. Miller added 30 points on 10-of-15 shooting, Voss had 27 points and nine rebounds and Bamberg added 18 points. Tate Martin had 10 assists for the Tigers, who had 30 rebounds and nine turnovers.

Rudeen had a game-high 36 points for Morningside, which shot 50 percent from the field and hit 13 3-pointers. Ryan Tegtmeier had 21 points and Steve O'Neill, Tanner Miller and Kyle Nikkel each had 11. Miller also had six rebounds. The Mustangs went 19-for-21 from the line and had 39 rebounds and nine turnovers.