MITCHELL, S.D. – With sole possession of second place in the Great Plains Athletic Conference up for grabs, the No. 9 Dakota Wesleyan University men's basketball team cruised past (RV) Northwestern College, 93-76 Wednesday night in front of a crowd of over 2,800 fans at the Corn Palace.
Thanks to consecutive 3-pointers by Ty Hoglund (Dell Rapids, S.D.) and Koln Oppold (Sioux Falls, S.D.), DWU opened with an early 6-0 lead.
The defense shut down the NWC offense early as the Tigers (21-7, 13-6 GPAC) held an 8-0 lead after four minutes of play.
After the Red Raiders (20-9, 12-7 GPAC) scored their first basket of the game, Oppold nailed another 3-pointer to push the lead to nine points.
Moments later, Collin Kramer (Volga, S.D.) dished the ball to Mason Larson (Langford, S.D.) for the two-handed slam dunk to enliven the Tiger crowd. On the following DWU possession, Hoglund found himself open from downtown as he knocked down a 3-pointer to push the lead to double digits for the first time in the game.
The Tigers continued to cruise in the opening half as Jeffrey Schuch (Dell Rapids, S.D.) connected on a layup to extend the advantage to 14 points.
After NWC cut the DWU lead to single digits, Larson scored three points the old-fashioned way as he made his layup and was fouled. He made his ensuing free throw to push the lead back to 11 points.
With just under five minutes to play in the half, Schuch swatted a layup attempt and hustled back to the offensive end, where he found himself with the ball on the low block for an easy layup.
On the next DWU possession with the shot clock winding down, Hoglund buried a 3-pointer to extend the lead to 16 points. A Kramer layup at the buzzer handed the Tigers a 41-28 advantage at halftime.
Both teams came out slow in the second half as they combined for eight points through the opening four minutes of play. However, the Tigers picked up on the offensive side as Oppold found Larson in the corner for a long two-point basket.
With just under eight minutes to play, Oppold snagged his own offensive rebound and put the layup up and was fouled, as he made his free throw.
Following the 3-point play by Oppold, Kramer notched one of his own with a deep 3-pointer to push the Tiger lead past 20 points.
DWU secured the victory with free throws down the stretch, including a pair by Oppold as he secured a new career high in points.
Oppold led all scorers with 32 points, as he finished with six rebounds and four assists. Hoglund tallied 21 points and six rebounds, while Kramer added 17 points and Larson notched 13 points.
The Tigers conclude the regular season at Hastings College at 4 p.m. on Saturday in Hastings, Neb.
