WICHITA, Kan. – The Northwestern College men’s basketball team (21-11, 13-7 GPAC) used a 55-point second half push to cut into a 17-point halftime deficit, but fall just short as the No. 16-ranked Saint Francis Cougars (24-8, 13-6 CL) prevailed in the Opening Round of the 2022 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) National Championship, presented by Ballogy.
Alex Van Kalsbeek (So., Orange City, Iowa/MOC-Floyd Valley) stole the show Friday evening inside the Garvey Center on the campus of Friends University, setting a new career-high in scoring with 45 points in the Raiders’ contest against the Cougars. He shot an exceptional 20-for-33 (60.6%) from the floor to in comeback attempt.
Northwestern scored the first couple of buckets thanks to paint touches to Van Kalsbeek and Matt Onken (R-So., Marshall, Minn./Marshall). The two sides would trade buckets as the Raiders would hold a slim 16-15 lead midway through the first half. Saint Francis would then use a 10-2 run to extend their lead to double digits for the first time in the contest, leading 35-23 with six minutes and change left in the half. The Cougars would score the last four points of the half, pushing out their lead to take a 17-point 47-30 lead into the locker room.
Van Kalsbeek led all scorers in the first 20 minutes of action with 18 points, while Onken cleaned up the boards with six in the first half.
Coming out of the halftime break, the Raiders made the needed adjustments and would cut the Cougar deficit to 12 in the first five minutes of the second half, trailing 55-43. Eight straight points from Van Kalsbeek would cut into the lead even further, as Northwestern cut it down to a six-point deficit (63-57) with just over 11 minutes to play.
Northwestern would get to within six points three more times in the second half, behind the efforts of Van Kalsbeek down low; but Saint Francis would continually respond with buckets of their own to keep the Raiders at bay.
With under a minute to play, Northwestern would knock down back-to-back-to-back 3-point buckets to make it interesting, thanks to Grant DeMeulenaere (Sr., Altoona, Iowa/Grand View Christian) and Trent Hilbrands (Sr., Remsen, Iowa/Le Mars Community). In the end, the Raiders comeback attempt would fall short as the Cougars would continue to convert at the free throw line, taking the game 91-85,
Three Raiders scored in double digits in the game, led by Van Kalsbeek’s career-high. Hilbrands notched 12 points. DeMeulenaere had 10 points and dished out seven assists on the game. Onken led the team with eight rebounds to go along with seven points.
The Raiders conclude the 2021-22 season with an overall record of 21-11. They made their third-consecutive trip to the NAIA national tournament, and their fifth in the last six seasons under head coach Kris Korver. In Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) play, Northwestern compiled a 13-7 mark to clinch the No. 3-seed in the GPAC conference tournament.
