Courtesy of Midland Athletics
FREMONT, Neb. – Midland University faced Dakota Wesleyan University inside Wikert Event Center on Saturday evening in a Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) showdown. The Warriors used a balanced attack as they secured the 67-57 victory over the Tigers, earning their first conference win.
The Warriors opened up the contest with an 8-3 run, with all the opening points coming from Brayden Thompson. After trading points, Midland continued to apply pressure with a three-pointer by Ryan Larsen and a jump shot by Derek Merwick. The Tigers responded with a 5-0 run as the Warriors whistled for a timeout.
Dakota Wesleyan found themselves able to convert five free throws to bring the game to a single point, 19-18 with 6:36 to go in the half. Thompson sparked a 12-8 run as the Warriors took a 31-28 lead into halftime.
After the break, the Tigers started to heat up as they opened with a 6-2 run to take the lead early on 34-33. The lead was short-lived as layups by Jake Rueschhoff and Jeffrey Rozelle III put the Warriors back on top.
As the teams began to trade points, battling it out, the Warriors started to build momentum. A 10-4 run put the home squad up heading into the final two minutes, 65-55. Back-to-back layups from Merwick and Colton Uhing preserved the double-digit win, 67-57.
Derek Merwick led the team with 15 points. He was followed by Brayden Thompson with 13 and Ryan Larsen with 10. Merwick added nine rebounds and five assists in 34 minutes of action. Thompson pulled down 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the season.
As a team, Midland shot 29-of-59 (49.2%) while Dakota Wesleyan was 21-of-62 (33.9%). The Warriors outrebounded the Tigers 40-31 and scored 12 points from the nine turnovers.
“This league can score it and [defense] has been a focus for a few weeks,” head coach Tyler Erwin commented. “It’s kind of coming together. You could see glimpses of how good we could be today. Proud of our defensive numbers and when you can get that type of results, you’ve got a chance. We’ve had some heated practices, working on our defense. It was good to see us take it from the whiteboard to the floor and it’ll be great to teach from a win next week.”
Midland (3-6, 1-4 GPAC) will travel to Crete, Nebraska to take on Doane (3-6, 1-4) next Wednesday. The midweek game between the longtime conference rivals is set for a 7:45 p.m. tip inside the Haddix Center on December 6.
