ORANGE CITY, Iowa – The Northwestern College men’s basketball (7-0, 1-0 GPAC) team opened up Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) play with a great defensive effort and earned the 67-53 win over the Doane University Tigers (7-3, 2-1 GPAC).
“We defended tonight,” stated Head Coach Kris Korver. “We held them to 32 in the first half and 21 in the second. It was a strong defensive effort from our guys. We moved the ball better in the second half and executed down the stretch. Jesse and Conner gave us great minutes off the bench.”
The first half proved to be a typical GPAC slugfest with both teams trading buckets and neither team stretching their lead to more than five points. The Raiders would jump out to an early 3-0 lead on three free-throws by Trent Hilbrands (Sr., Remsen, Iowa/Le Mars Community). Doane would answer quickly with a mini run of their own to go up four at the 15-minute mark. Both teams would trade buckets the rest of the first half with the Tigers taking the lead into halftime 32-30. Noah Slagter (Sr., Willmar, Minn./Willmar) would lead the Raiders in first half points, matching Doane’s high point man Anthony Laravie at nine.
The second half saw the offense of Northwestern wear down the visiting Tigers as the Raiders shot an impressive 52% from the field for the half. A 16-2 second half run was sparked by a Slagter assist to Alex Van Kalsbeek (So., Orange City, Iowa/MOC-Floyd Valley) putting the Raiders up 43-41. The ensuing possessions would see another Van Kalsbeek field goal and a Hilbrands three to push the lead to 48-43. Senior Grant DeMeulenaere (Sr., Altoona, Iowa/Grand View Christian) would get fouled as he hit a corner three and after completing the four point play the Raiders would stay out in front for good. A dunk and another jumper from Van Kalsbeek would seal the deal as the Raiders finished off the Tigers 67-53.
The Raiders shot 47% for the game while holding the Tigers to 31% from the field. Going 13-13 on the night from the stripe allowed Northwestern to capitalize on their free-throw opportunities. Van Kalsbeek finished the night with 22 points to pace the Raiders offensively, he was one rebound shy of a double-double ending with nine. Slagter ended with 13 points and eight assists. Hilbrands rounded out the double-digit scorers with 11.
Up Next: The Raiders will travel to Fremont, Neb. to take on the Warriors of Midland University on Tuesday, Nov. 23 at 7:45 p.m.
