MITCHELL, S.D. – Despite forcing 15 turnovers and scoring 17 points off turnovers, the No. 16 Dakota Wesleyan University men's basketball team gave up 53 second-half points to No. 9 Morningside College in an 87-77 Great Plains Athletic Conference defeat Wednesday at the Corn Palace.
Jeffrey Schuch (Dell Rapids, S.D.) kicked off the scoring for DWU with a 3-pointer off an assist from Sawyer Schultz (Emery, S.D.). After Morningside took a 12-7 lead, the Tigers (16-5, 12-4 GPAC) made a quick run after layups from Ace Zorr (Harrisburg, S.D.) and Nick Harden (Chicago, Ill.) to pull within a point.
After the Mustangs (19-3, 15-3 GPAC) made a layup to take an 18-13 lead, neither team scored for two minutes until Harden converted on a layup and a free throw after a Morningside foul. Moments later, Harden began to find his groove as he nailed a 3-pointer, followed by a pair of layups and a free throw to take the lead.
Morningside retook the lead momentarily, but Harden continued his hot streak as he kept DWU within a basket. Then Drew Cole (Brookings, S.D.) notched a shot from beyond the arc off a Harden assist to return the lead to DWU at 33-32.
With the score tied at 34, Schultz picked the pocket of the Morningside player he was defending and pitched the ball to Harden who made the transition layup to give the Tigers a 36-34 lead at halftime.
DWU came out of the break on fire as Schultz nailed a 3-pointer, followed by a Koln Oppold (Sioux Falls, S.D.) layup to push the advantage to seven points. After the Mustangs pulled within three points, DWU answered with a 7-0 run thanks to a 3-pointer by Schultz and a pair of Oppold shots to extend the lead to 10 points, forcing a Morningside timeout.
Coming out of the timeout, Oppold made another layup to push the lead to 12 points. However, the Mustangs began to chip away at the DWU lead with a 25-7 run over the next 10 minutes.
The Mustangs continued their run until their lead grew to as many as 12 points as they pulled away from DWU down the stretch to secure the GPAC victory.
Harden tallied an impressive night with 31 points on 11-of-26 shooting from the field and 8-of-8 from the free-throw line. Schultz added 13 points, while Oppold posted 12 points and three rebounds in the game.
DWU returns to the road to take on Concordia University at 6 p.m. on Saturday in Seward, Neb.
