The Dordt Defender men's basketball lost a hard-fought 85-80 decision on the road at Morningside on Wednesday night, November 16 in Sioux City, Iowa. The Defenders led by as many as five points in the final ten minutes but a 8-0 run by the hosts ended the game and gave the Mustangs their second win of the GPAC season while Dordt slipped to 5-1 overall and 0-1 in league play.
The first ten minutes of the game was played at a frantic pace with Dordt taking a 12-8 lead on a
Bryce Coppock lay up with 13:09 left in the half. Morningside went on to score the next 12 points and led 20-12 when Dordt called a timeout with 10:14 left in the half. The Defenders were able to creep back in contention, taking brief lead at 29-28 on a
Lucas Lorenzen three-point shot but the Mustangs pushed the lead to 41-35 when the half ended.
Morningside's lead grew to nine on several occasions, the last at 50-41 with 17:00 left in the game. Dordt rallied and went on a 16-6 run to take a 57-56 lead on a
Jackson Louscher basket with 12:41 left in the game. The lead changed hands six times up to a 65-64 Dordt lead and
Jacob Vis converted a pair of free throws with 7:45 left to extend the lead to 67-63 and
Luke Rankin's free throws with 7:06 remaining gave Dordt its biggest lead of the second half.
Dordt maintained the lead until the 4:51 mark when Morningside led 73-72. The Mustangs were up 77-75 when Lorenzen made two free throws and then hit a step back three with 2:51 left in the game for an 80-77 margin. Dordt didn't score again. Trey Powers tied the game with a three at the 2:21 mark and Morningside took the lead on a pair of free throws with just over a minute left. Dordt's next possession resulted in a straight on three-point shot being missed but Morningside turned it over with :21 left. Dordt got the ball with a look at a three-point basket with :08 left from the corner but it was off and the Mustangs made free throws to seal the 85-80 win.
THE NUMBERS
- Jacob Vis scored 28 points with eight rebounds.
- Lucas Lorenzen added 18 points with eight rebounds.
- Bryce Coppock scored 11 with six rebounds.
- Cade Bleeker had seven points with five rebounds and Luke Rankin had six points and 10 assists.
- Jackson Louscher added eight points.
- Dordt was 29-59 from the field and 8-22 from the arc with a 36-31 rebounding edge.
- Dordt had 16 turnovers while forcing eight.
- Morningside was 31-62 from the field and 7-18 from the arc and the hosts made 16-18 free throws.
- Dordt is now 5-1 and 0-1 in the league and will host Concordia on Saturday at 4:00pm.
