ORANGE CITY, Iowa – The (RV) Northwestern College men’s basketball team (20-9, 12-7 GPAC) tallies their 20th win of the season in dramatic fashion with an 80-78 win over arch-rival Dordt University (19-9, 11-8 GPAC) behind 20+ point efforts from Alex Van Kalsbeek and Trent Hilbrands.
The win over the Defenders marks the eighth-straight home win over the arch-rival from Sioux Center. The Raiders have now won three straight in the series with Dordt, including 11 of the last 13 meetings. Dating back to the 2001-02 season, the Raiders hold a 28-19 series lead.
The first half saw both teams shoot 50% from the floor, as the two teams traded baskets early on. The Defenders were led early by freshman Luke Rankin who notched 10 first half points. The Raiders were able to build up a lead late in the first half, leading by as many as eight at three different points. Shooting 40% from deep (8-for-20) aided the Raiders’ efforts in building up the lead, thanks to three 3-pointers from both Hilbrands (Sr., Remsen, Iowa/Le Mars Community) and Grant DeMeulenaere (Sr., Altoona, Iowa/Grand View Christian) – both having nine first half points. Van Kalsbeek (So., Orange City, Iowa/MOC-Floyd Valley) also notched 10 first half points, as it was Northwestern who took an 40-32 lead into the locker room. Conner Geddes (Fr., Sioux Falls, S.D./Harrisburg) also had two big 3-pointers, part of his eight first half points.
Coming out of the halftime break, it was the Defenders who was hot from deep, increasing their 16% mark in the first half to 47% in the second half. With 16 minutes left, Dordt hit four 3-pointers in four consecutive possessions to give them their first lead of the contest at 51-50 since it was 4-2. The very next Dordt possession would make it five-straight Defender 3-point buckets, but a Van Kalsbeek dunk would give some of that momentum back to Northwestern, as Dordt lead 54-53 with 13 minutes to go.
For the rest of the game, the two teams went back-and-forth, neither side taking a lead larger than four. In the final 13 minutes, nine lead changes and four ties which set up a fun final four minutes of action. Tied at 72-72 with four to play, a Geddes three put the Raiders up, but a pair of Defender free throws cut the lead to one (75-74). Van Kalsbeek scored to put the lead back up to three, and a Hilbrands timely three after a Dordt bucket extended the Raider lead to 80-76. An offensive rebound off a missed three, allowed Dordt to cut it to 80-78 with 21 seconds left on the clock. Dordt would have one last crack at it, down two, but Dordt would miss the go ahead three as the Raiders would escape with the 80-78 win to complete the season sweep of Dordt.
Northwestern shot right on par of their season average, shooting 50.8% from the floor. The deep ball helped lift the team over Dordt, shooting above the season average of 38.6% from deep at a clip of 46.4% tonight (13-for-28). As a team, the Raiders shared the ball well, dropping 20 assists to Dordt’s eight assists.
Van Kalsbeek led all scorers with his 26 points, shooting 13-for-18 from the floor. He also tallied a team-high six assists and seven rebounds in the win. Hilbrands dropped 22 points on 6-of-13 shooting from behind the arc. DeMeulenaere was one point away from a double-double as he had nine points and a team-high 10 rebounds. Geddes was the third Raider in double digits, scoring 14 points and grabbing six rebounds.
Up Next: Northwestern will wrap up the regular season with a trip out to Hastings, Neb. to battle the Broncos of Hastings College (7-22, 2-17 GPAC) on Saturday, February 16.
