Courtesy of Midland Athletics
FREMONT, Neb. – Midland University brought awareness to those who were fighting the good fight against cancer in a game against Briar Cliff University on Wednesday night. The players honored former head coach Rich McGill, who guided the Warriors for 30 years, as the starters went into the stands to shake hands with the former coach before the tip-off against the Chargers. Midland controlled the glass on both ends and held off a late charge from Briar Cliff, winning 84-73. Midland moved to 9-13 overall on the season and is now 3-11 in the conference. Briar Cliff drops to 8-15 overall and 4-9 in the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC).
The Warriors forced an early timeout as the Chargers’ coach didn’t like his team’s effort in the opening minutes of the game. Things started to click for the visitors a few minutes later though. At the 9:21 mark, they went on a 9-0 scoring stretch to go up 23-17. Midland responded with an 8-2 game-tying run capped by a Ryan Larsen jumper with 4:11 on the first half clock.
After trading baskets, which put them down 28-27 with 2:37 left in the half, the Warriors closed out the period with a 10-0 run that saw assists on four straight baskets. Rece Kissinger had the final five points as Midland took a 35-28 lead to the locker room.
Coming out of the intermission, the Warriors expanded on their rampage to end the half. They went on a 9-0 scoring run which completed an almost nine-minute stretch where they outscored the Chargers, 25-3.
Jake Orr scored at will, driving to the glass in a commanding fashion. He scored 15 points in a four-minute stretch to lengthen the lead, 59-37, with 12:20 to play. As Orr was pulled to the bench with four personal fouls, the Chargers made a late rush to keep the game interesting. A 16-4 run got them within striking distance, but Colton Uhing made three big baskets down the stretch. He finished with nine points in his first start of the season, helping Midland to the 11-point win, 84-73.
The Warriors outrebounded their opponents 47-30 and had 21 assists on 33 made buckets.
Orr moved with purpose as he stockpiled 23 points to go with 9 rebounds, 6 assists, and 2 steals in 31 minutes of action. Staying consistent on offense through 6-of-8 shooting, Larsen amassed 17 points as the second-highest leading scorer. Joining Uhing at one point away from double figures was Jake Rueschhoff with nine points, including 5-of-6 free throws.
Head coach Tyler Erwin had this to say about the run that ended the first and carried over into the second. “I told them with 2:37 to play (in the first half), let’s win this last 2:30. Get a stop, score, stop, score… and we were able to get a flow even into the second half from that. We had talked about not letting one bad possession lead to the next.”
“This was more of a complete win for a majority of the 40 minutes and when it counted,” added Coach Erwin. “We hit the free throws we needed to down the stretch.”
Midland (9-13, 3-11 GPAC) will look to go 2-0 against Doane (8-13, 5-8 GPAC) this season with a rematch in Crete, Nebraska set for Saturday afternoon. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:45 p.m. inside the Haddix Center. The Warriors are poised to make a run to make the GPAC Tournament with six games left in the regular season.
