Courtesy of Midland Athletics
SIOUX CITY, Iowa – On Saturday afternoon Midland University men’s basketball competed in their regular-season finale in a Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) matchup Morningside University. The Warriors held the lead for almost the entire contest and were victorious over the Mustangs in the tight contest, 79-75.
The win marks the Warriors’ 16th of the season and they will finish the 2021-2022 season on a two-game win streak (16-14, 7-13 GPAC).
Their season was filled with ups and downs as they went on wins streaks of four and five en route to a 14-4 start to the season but hit a wall at the turn of the calendar year. A ten-game losing streak derailed their great start, but the losses seemed to exemplify bad fortune more than bad execution. The Warriors lost four of the ten games by a single possession and eight of their 14 losses on the season were by six points or less.
The margin of victory is incredibly slim in the GPAC and although they finished a game and a half out of eighth place and a spot in the conference tournament, they defeated the reigning GPAC champions to finish their season.
In the final outing of the year, Midland was without Bo Sandquist (illness), Multiple Warriors stepped up in his absence, maybe none more important than freshman Ryan Larsen who finished his freshman season with a career game.
Larsen was hot out of the gate, connecting on four triples and totaling 18 points in the first half. Following a season-high on Wednesday night, Samuel Mailloux was efficient again (5-of-6) and scored 10 points in the first half. The hot shooting powered Midland to a 41-33 advantage at the intermission.
The Mustangs were far from done in the contest, and halfway through the final period, they trailed by just two points, 58-56.
With just 3:10 left to play, a huge Mustangs’ triple tied the game at 72 and the momentum had shifted in favor of the home team with their raucous fans behind them.
The energy soon dissipated as Larsen drained his fifth triple of the game to regain the Warriors’ lead with 2:34 left. Two minutes later, Jake Rueschhoff added to the heroics with a clutch jumper to give the Warriors the lead, 77-74.
On the ensuing possession, Mailloux blocked a Morningside layup attempt and as Laurence Merritt corralled the rebound, he was fouled. The super-senior, playing in his final game as a Warrior, iced the contest with a pair of free throws.
Midland finishes the season with their most wins since the 2017-2018 season. They’ll take the early-season momentum and late-season wins into the off-season and hope to be even stronger for the 2022-2023 season.
