The Dordt Defenders led almost start to finish and secured a 94-89 win over Northwestern in GPAC play on Wednesday night in Sioux Center.
The Defenders took the lead for good with a three-point shot with 16:35 left in the first half to unlock and 8-8 tie. Dordt maintained a two point lead at 20-18 before going on a 12-0 run to extend the lead to 32-18 with 7:57 left in the half. A little over a minute later Dordt’s lead was 17 when Garrett Franken knocked down a three-point shot for a 37-20 lead.
Northwestern rallied to within 49-41 at halftime and took advantage of a late outburst by Jay Small as he went 4-6 in the first half for 20 points, offsetting the 14 point first half by Jesse Jansma.
Dordt led by anywhere from 8 to 14 points in the first ten minutes of the second half and led 77-70 with 9:20 left in the game. Northwestern was able to trim the lead down to three at 85-82 with 4:44 left in the game but Dordt answered with a 6-2 edge to go up 91-84 and held on to win by the five point margin. Northwestern did get the lead down to 87-84 but a basket by Jacob Vis on an assist by Jesse Jansma put Dordt up by five and they never led by less than two possessions the rest of the game.
Dordt is 5-4 in the conference and 9-4 overall while Northwestern is 5-4 and 8-4.
Dordt will travel to face Mount Marty on Saturday, December 19 at 2:00 pm.
