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Dakota Wesleyan men's basketball rallies for win at Mount Marty

marcus traxler, the daily republic, mitchell, s.d.
·2 min read

Nov. 24—YANKTON — A strong second half, including a 20-4 run to close the final 7 minutes of the game, powered the Dakota Wesleyan men's basketball team to a road win in the Great Plains Athletic Conference Tuesday night, as DWU knocked off Mount Marty 67-55 at Cimpl Arena.

Four Tiger starters were in double-figure scoring, including a double-double effort from Jeffrey Schuch, who had 19 points, 10 rebounds and four assists in the win that saw DWU (4-4, 1-2 GPAC) rally from a three-point halftime deficit to outscore Mount Marty, 40-25 in the second half.

Mason Larson had a strong game with 15 points, and Koln Oppold had 14 points in a game where he played all 40 minutes. Nick Wittler scored 10 for the Tigers, with Ace Zorr adding seven.

The Lancers led by seven points with 13 minutes left in the game before DWU made its slow march back to the lead. Mount Marty's Nick Coleman made a layup to put MMU up 51-47 with 7:03 left, but the Lancers would go cold from the field from there.

Schuch had a pair of free throws with 5:36 remaining that put DWU ahead 52-51 for the first time in the game, and he extended the lead with a layup a minute later. Oppold then added a jumper and two made free throws to stretch the lead to five points with 2:34 left. Larson hit a key 3-pointer with 1:41 remaining to put DWU up eight points and extended the lead to double digits for the first time for DWU at 63-53 with 1:09 remaining on two free throws.

DWU held a key advantage at the free-throw line, converting 14 of 18 attempts, while Mount Marty (3-7, 0-4 GPAC) had just four free throws in the game. The Lancers' Elijah Pappas had 17 points for MMU, with Coleman and Lincoln Jordre each scoring 10.

DWU is back in action on Friday, Nov. 26 at the Sam Milanovich Classic in Dickinson, N.D. The Tigers will play two NAIA teams from Montana, starting with Rocky Mountain College at 6 p.m. Central on Friday, followed by a 6 p.m. Central game with the University of Montana-Western on Saturday.