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Dordt plays spoiler on Senior Night, taking down DWU men

blake durham, the daily republic, mitchell, s.d.
·5 min read

Feb. 21—MITCHELL — For Dakota Wesleyan men's basketball, Wednesday's contest served as the final home game for seniors Nick Wittler, Drew Van Regenmorter, and Diang Gatluak, who were honored prior to the start of the game.

From there, visiting Dordt played spoiler to all the festivities at the Corn Palace.

Behind a huge second-half scoring run, the Defenders took down the Tigers 75-64 in a Great Plains Athletic Conference tilt. DWU jumped ahead to a 38-33 halftime lead off a run of their own, and ultimately held Dordt below its scoring average of 89.2 points per game coming into the contest.

However, the difference in the game was not getting the ball into the hoop.

"We were playing hard (tonight)," Tigers head coach Matt Wilber said. "But we couldn't get enough shots to go in. When you shoot 35% (for the game), that's a tough one to swallow. We did enough defensively to hold Dordt under their average. We just had a really tough second half."

With the Defenders having played its last six games where the margin of victory was single digits, the game had the sense of being close from the opening tip. In total, the first half featured 10 lead changes and four ties.

Diang Gatluak sparked an 11-2 scoring run for the Tigers in the middle stages of the first half, racking up eight points in the process. Kallan Herman sank a deep 3-pointer with 1:47 remaining in the half after a pair of offensive rebounds by Gatluak and Sam Aslesen, opening up a five-point lead.

However, DWU went cold shooting to start the second half. Going only 1-of-7 from the field, Dordt turned a five-point lead into a seven-point deficit for the Tigers via a 17-2 scoring run with 13:35 remaining in the game. Lucas Lorenzen scored 10 of his game-leading 24 points for the Defenders in that span.

"Lorenzen started making some threes and they made some shots," Wilber said. "We had guys going hard to the basket and we just missed a few layups. (The game) was there for us the way that second half started. If we got a couple baskets there, then we could've got going as a team."

Off timeouts after Dordt extended its lead to 14 points, Ethan Determan drained a triple as the Tigers began to cut into the lead at the 9:44 mark. Kaden Year also hit a big 3-pointer, and Gatluak finished a dunk on the break to bring DWU within three. It was the closest the Tigers came to retaking the lead, as a Herman triple rolled in and out with 43 seconds left in the game.

Gatluak finished with a team-best 15 points in his last home game as a Tiger, grabbing eight rebounds as well. Aslesen and Herman tallied 12 points each, as the latter was 5-of-8 shooting. Randy Rosenquist Jr. picked up five steals and four assists.

Dordt (19-8, 12-7 GPAC) had four double-digit scorers, getting 13 points and nine rebounds from Ben Fairclough. Luke Rankin had 12 points and eight assists, while Bryce Coppock finished with 11 points. The Defenders shot 48.3% from the field in the second half and 43.1% for the game.

DWU (14-13, 9-10 GPAC) looks ahead to its regular-season finale away from Mitchell, taking on Jamestown Saturday, Feb. 24 for the last time as conference rivals. Wilber credits his team for continuing to compete, and says games like Wednesday's serve as learning experiences for future matchups, including beyond this season.

"These are games with our group where we'll continue to work on improving as we finish the year out," Wilber said. "For the guys returning next year, they'll go like, 'Hey, these plays can't happen or these are game-winning plays.' The experiences gained playing this year will be necessary to go and make game-winning plays next year."

Dordt 74, Dakota Wesleyan men 65

Dordt (19-8, 12-7 GPAC): Luke Rankin 6-15 0-0 12 Connor Millikan 0-4 2-4 2 Bryce Coppock 4-14 2-2 11 Lucas Lorenzen 8-16 2-2 24 Ben Fairclough 6-10 0-0 13 Shane Haagsma 0-0 0-0 0 Jackson Louscher 1-2 2-2 4 Ty Van Essen 3-4 0-0 8 Totals 28-65 8-10 74.

Dakota Wesleyan (14-13, 9-10 GPAC): Nick Wittler 0-1 0-0 0 Jakob Dobney 3-8 0-0 8 Sam Aslesen 3-10 4-4 12 Drew Van Regenmorter 0-0 0-0 0 Diang Gatluak 7-12 1-2 15 Oliver Vincent 0-3 0-0 0 Blaze Lubbers 0-4 2-2 2 Randy Rosenquist Jr. 2-13 0-1 5 Ethan Determan 2-6 0-0 6 Kaden Year 2-3 0-0 5 Kallan Herman 5-8 0-0 12 Totals 24-68 7-9 65.

Halftime: Dakota Wesleyan 38-33. 3-pointers: DRT 10-26 (Rankin 0-2, Millikan 0-2, Coppock 1-4, Lorenzen 6-11, Fairclough 1-4, Van Essen 3-4), DWU 10-32 (Wittler 0-1, Dobney 2-2, Aslesen 2-7, Gatluak 0-4, Vincent 0-1, Lubbers 0-2, Rosenquist 1-4, Determan 2-5, Year 1-2, Herman 2-4). Rebounds: DRT 43 (Fairclough 9, Rankin 7, Coppock 7), DWU 40 (Gatluak 8, Aslesen 8, Year 6). Total fouls: DRT 14, DWU 13. Fouled out: none. Assists: DRT 14 (Rankin 8), DWU 11 (Rosenquist 3). Turnovers: DRT 10, DWU 10. Blocks: DRT 2 (Millikan, Fairclough), DWU 4 (Aslesen 2, Gatluak 2). Steals: DRT 2 (Rankin, Fairclough), DWU 9 (Rosenquist 5).