No. 9 Warriors hot start derails No. 3 Tiger men 76-52

FREMONT, Neb. – The No. 9 Midland Warriors jumped out to 12-0 advantage and ran away from the No. 3 Dakota Wesleyan University men's basketball team in a battle of the top two teams in the Great Plains Athletic Conference Saturday in Fremont, Neb.

The Tigers (21-2, 11-2 GPAC) had not shot below 42 percent in a game this season before a 30.9 percent performance against the Warriors. The loss drops DWU into a first-place tie with Midland atop the league standings.

DWU shot 17-of-55 from the field and 3-of-23 from beyond the three-point line. The Tigers, who were without All-American senior forward Jalen Voss (Worthington, Minn.) for a fifth straight game, were outrebounded 41-24 as the Warriors crashed the offensive boards for several second-chance opportunities.

For the first time in 2014-15, senior forward Luke Bamberg (Corsica, S.D.) led the Tigers in scoring. He finished with 13 points on 4-of-10 shooting and collected four rebounds. True freshman forward Jason Spicer (Sioux Fall, S.D.) added 10 points on 4-of-4 shooting off the bench.

DWU's second leading scorer Kris Menning (Corsica, S.D.) was held to four points and was 0-for-6 from deep, while juniors Trae Bergh (Crooks, S.D.) and Jade Miller (Mitchell, S.D.) each added seven points.

The Tigers and Warriors split the season series as DWU won the first meeting in a rout at the Corn Palace in Decemeber. The loss snaps the Tigers' 10-game winning streak.

Midland was led by Marcus Franklin and Harold Ridgeway with 14 points each. Ridgeway added 11 rebounds for a double-double. The Warriors shot 30-of-64 from the field and 4-of-18 from long range.

The Tigers look to rebound against a third straight road game against a ranked opponent as they travel to No. 11 Morningside College at 8 p.m. Wednesday in Sioux City, Iowa.