Mitchell, S.D. – Dakota Wesleyan men's basketball kept the Corn Palace on the edge of their seats in the second half, shooting 48.4% from the floor and 50% beyond the arc after halftime to survive the Bulldogs late push on senior day.
The Quick Details
Score:
DWU 75 – CUNE 72
Records:
DWU 13-15 (GPAC 9-11)
CUNE 17-11 (GPAC 11-9)
How It Happened
After opening the game scoreless for nearly two-minutes by both teams, the Tigers and Blaze Lubbers scored first. CUNE and DWU both kept it close as the Bulldogs grabbed a single possession lead, then the Tigers tied it back up on the next trip up the floor. As the midway point of the first half rolled around, the Tigers trailed by three, but Kallan Herman hit a tough jumper putting DWU within one point of tying the game at 16-15. On the next DWU possession Lubbers tied the game at 17-17 with around nine-minutes to play in the first half. With seven and a half minutes to play, Herman tied things up at 21-21, followed by Lubbers making a shot of his own to give the Tigers a 23-21 lead after grabbing the offensive board. With five minutes to go in the opening half, DWU trailed by one as head coach Matt Wilber called for a 30-second timeout. Both Concordia and Dakota Wesleyan went cold after the short pause in play, till the 2:38 mark when the Bulldogs pushed their lead out to 29-26. The Tigers did not score again till six-second to play in the half when Herman hit a jumper closing the margin to 31-28 as the teams headed to the locker room for halftime. The first half was a low scoring but physical game as the Tigers shot 38.2% from the floor and 11.1% beyond the arc and only stepping to the foul line twice. Lubbers led DWU after 20-minutes of play scoring 12 points and Gatluak led the team in boards with seven. The Bulldogs didn't shoot well either in the first half, only making 34.2% of their shots from the field and 11.8% of their shots from deep.
Diang Gatluak got DWU rolling in the second half, quickly cutting the margin to two point after a basket from deep to open the second half for the Tigers. CUNE pulled away over the next couple of minutes, extending their lead to ten points, 47-37 just four minutes in. DWU was unable to close the margin still with 13:14 to play in regulation as they now trailed by 11 points. With ten-minutes to play in the game came around, the Tigers started to slowly close in as Koln Oppold made a jump shot followed by a three pointer from Samuel Aslesen that cut the Bulldogs lead to 53-48. DWU continued to battle and claw their way back into the game down the stretch as Herman collected on another shot from deep to now trail by four points with 7:25 to play. It wasn't until a 10-2 run by Dakota Wesleyan, putting them back in the game and leading 63-62 with 3:41 to play. The final three and a half minutes was back and forth as CUNE grabbed a small one- or two-point lead, then the Tigers took a small one- or two-point lead. With just under two-minutes to play, DWU called for a full timeout as they trailed 69-68. Oppold converted on both free throws handing the one-point lead back to the Tigers. Oppold and Herman continued to convert on free throws in the final 99-seconds of play, hanging onto the small lead and honoring seniors Alan Kikwaki and fifth year player Koln Oppold in fashion with a 75-72 win to close out the 2022-23 regular season at home.
The final regular season game of 2022-23 was a battle as the game posted seven ties, and 12 lead changes. The Tigers did outshoot the Bulldogs across the board, 43.1% to 39.4% from the floor; 34.8% to 20% beyond the arc; and 78.6% to 77.8% at the foul line. DWU outrebounded CUNE 41-38, while the Bulldogs scored six points off 10 Tiger turnovers compared to the four points DWU scored off four CUNE turnovers. The Tigers tallied 11 second chance points, 20 points in the paint, four fastbreak points, and the bench chipped in with 17 points. DWU's largest lead was four points right at the end of the game as the Bulldogs led by as much as 13 points in the game.
Beyond the Results
- Kallan Herman: 23 points, 47.3 FG%, 40 3-pt%, 75 FT%, seven rebounds, and two assists
- Blaze Lubbers: 16 points, 50 FG%, 50 3-pt%, 50 FT%, and four rebounds
- Diang Gatluak: 12 points, 44.4 FG%, 50 3-pt%, 100 FT%, 11 rebounds, two assists, one steal, and two blocks
- Koln Oppold: 11 points, and seven rebounds
Up Next
Tiger men's basketball enters postseason play on Wednesday, February 22 as the sixth seed in the GPAC tournament. Sixth seed DWU will travel for the quarterfinal round in a 7:45 p.m. game when they face third seed Dordt in Sioux Center, Iowa.
