The Dordt Defender men's basketball team survived a strong effort by the Dakota Wesleyan Tigers in GPAC play on Saturday afternoon at the DeWitt Gym. The win ran Dordt's current winning streak to six and pushed them to 11-2 this season.
Dordt led early at 12-7 after a
Luke Rankin jump shot in the paint with 16:15 left in the half. Wesleyan got a three-point shot from De-Yang Gatlock for an 18-16 lead with 11:12 left in the half. Blaze Lubbers followed with a basket for a 20-16 lead and the Tigers built the lead to 26-21 before Dordt rallied and briefly retook the lead at 27-26 after a Bryce
Coppock basket. Back to back baskets by Gatlock put the visitors up 42-33 with 1:41 left in the half and Dordt was able to get it back to within 42-36 at the break on a Vis basket and free throw.
Wesleyan briefly regained an eight point lead with 16:59 left in the game on a Kallan Herman basket but Dordt rallied to within 52-49 after a Vis basket. Wesleyan again extended the difference to 61-54 with 11:27 left in the game but Dordt again rallied and took the lead on a
Jackson Louscher basket in the paint for a 68-67 lead with 5:55 left in the game. The game was tied again at 70 and 72 before Dordt mustered back to baskets by
Bryce Coppock at the 1:52 mark and the :56 mark.
Wesleyan got a quick basket and elected to let it play out. Dordt missed a basket to go up four and Wesleyan called a timeout with :23 left. After a missed free throw by Wesleyan, Dordt got to the free throw line and
Lucas Lorenzen made the front end of one-and-one but missed the second with :12 left.
Dordt elected to foul and Nick Wittler missed a free throw for the Tigers but the rebound was tipped out of bounds by Dordt. Koln Oppold took a three-point shot that
Jacob Vis blocked and a desperation three-point shot at the horn was long from the left wing by Wittler.
THE NUMBERS
- Dordt was 33-63 from the field but just 4-19 from the arc while converting 7-12 free throws.
- Wesleyan was 28-69 from the field and 13-39 from the three-point line. The Tigers made 5-9 free throws.
- Dakota Wesleyan had a 44-34 rebounding edge but 10 turnovers to six for the Defenders.
- Jacob Vis scored 24 points for Dordt on 10-13 shooting and he had two blocked shots.
- Lucas Lorenzen scored 19 and had eight rebounds and three steals.
- Bryce Coppock scored 13 and had five rebounds and Luke Rankin had 10 points and six assists.
- Jackson Louscher scored nine, all in the second half for Dordt.
- Wesleyan was led by Gatlock who was making his first appearance of the season. He scored 21 points and had 10 rebounds.
- Dordt is now 11-2 and 4-2 in the GPAC while Dakota Wesleyan slips to 5-6 and 3-3.
NEXT
Dordt will travel to face Mount Marty on Thursday, December 15 in the final game of 2022.
