The (RV) Northwestern College men’s basketball team (17-7, 9-5 GPAC) fall 83-80 on the road at (RV) Morningside (12-7, 9-5 GPAC) in Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) action Wednesday night from the Rosen Verdoorn Sports Center.
With 18:12 on the clock and a hook shot in the lane, the eighth point of the night for senior Trent Hilbrands (Sr., Remsen, Iowa/Le Mars Community) marked his 2,000th career point in a Red Raider uniform. The Remsen, Iowa native becomes the seventh Raider in men’s basketball program history to achieve 2,000 career points.
Alex Van Kalsbeek (So., Orange City, Iowa/MOC-Floyd Valley) opened up the Raiders scoring, scoring the first four Raider points of the night. Morningside would take a time out with 13:34 minutes left in the first half as it was Northwestern with a 20-11 lead behind seven early points from Matt Onken (R-So., Marshall, Minn./Marshall) and 70% (7-for-10) shooting as a team.
Back-to-back 3-point buckets from Conner Geddes (Fr., Sioux Falls, S.D./Harrisburg) and Grant DeMeulenaere (Sr., Altoona, Iowa/Grand View Christian) would push the Raider lead up to 15 (29-14) with 11 minutes left in the half. The Raiders would stay red hot, pushing the lead up to 33-18 forcing yet another first half Morningside time out.
Northwestern would build up a lead of as many as 15 points in the opening half (33-18). Morningside would cut the Raider lead down to five with under a minute left in the half, and with a half court heave at the buzzer would cut the Northwestern lead down to 47-45. DeMeulenaere led all scorers with 16 first half points and four rebounds, while Onken dropped 11 points. Van Kalsbeek had five points and five rebounds.
Morningside opened the second half on a spurt to take the advantage, but the Raiders would stay within striking distance most of the half. The Mustangs would open up a lead by as many as seven, but Keyton Moser (So., Hull, Iowa/Boyden-hull) would stop the run with a layup of his own to cut the lead to 69-64 with just over 10 minutes to play. The very next possession, DeMeulenaere would cut that Mustang lead down to two with his fifth three-pointer of the game (69-67).
After scoring his 2,000th career point early in the second half, Hilbrands would splash a 3-pointer to tie the game at 72-72 as the Raiders had momentum back on their side. Van Kalsbeek would give the Raiders the lead back with eight minutes on the clock, their first lead since the 19:20 mark in the second half.
Morningside took a four-point advantage with four minutes remaining, but Van Kalsbeek would score in the paint to keep the Raiders within one possession. After a defensive stop, it would be Van Kalsbeek again who would tie the game at 74-74.
Down the stretch, a Morningside three would give them an 81-78 advantage and they would expand their lead to 83-78 with under a minute remaining. A Van Kalsbeek bucket would, once again, make it a one possession game. Down three with 20 seconds left on the clock, a top of the key 3-pointer by Noah Slagter (Sr., Willmar, Minn./Willmar) would not fall as Morningside would prevail 83-80.
Four Raiders scored in double digits, led by Van Kalsbeek with a game-high of 22 points and eight rebounds. DeMeulenaere had 21 points, six assists, and five rebounds. Onken scored 13, followed by Hilbrands with 11.
