MITCHELL, S.D. – The (RV) Northwestern College men’s basketball team (18-9, 10-7 GPAC) fell short in South Dakota besides every effort from Alex Van Kalsbeek who dropped a new career-high 38 points in the 92-86 loss to Dakota Wesleyan (11-13, 8-9 GPAC) Wednesday night.
Dakota Wesleyan maintained a seven-point lead at the half, thanks to seven 3-pointers with four of them coming from the team’s leading scorer Koln Oppold. Van Kalsbeek (So., Orange City, Iowa/MOC-Floyd Valley) led all scorers with 17 points at the break.
The Tigers would never lead by more than nine points in the second half, thanks in part to Van Kalsbeek’s 21 second half points (10-of-13) and Noah Slagter (Sr., Willmar, Minn./Willmar) going 3-for-3 from deep. Between the eight- and four-minute marks, the lead would change hands nine times, with the Raiders taking their largest lead of the game at 3 (76-73) thanks to one of Slagter’s 3-point buckets.
Van Kalsbeek gave it all he had with his 38-point and five rebound performance, including going a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line. Three fellow Raiders joined Van Kalsbeek in double digits on the night. Slagter would contribute 13 points and a game-high seven assists. Both Trent Hilbrands (Sr., Remsen, Iowa/Le Mars Community) and Grant DeMeulenaere (Sr., Altoona, Iowa/Grand View Christian) both had 11 points, while DeMeulenaere was one rebound shy of a double-double performance.
Up Next: Northwestern will play host to the Lancers of Mount Marty University (7-20, 3-15 GPAC) on Saturday, February 12 as the Raiders will celebrate their five seniors inside the Bultman Center for a 3:45 p.m. tip.
