Mustang men hold off upset-aimed Defenders

SIOUX CENTER, IOWA – Mustang and Defender fans alike were in for a wild ride when Morningside visited Dordt College in Sioux Center on Saturday. The Nov. 10 contest featured eight ties and 16 lead changes before the Mustang men eventually came out on top, 77-66.

After carrying a three point lead into the locker room at halftime, the Mustangs found themselves trailing by six with 14 minutes to play in the game. A time out called by head coach Jim Sykes allowed for some adjustments, and Morningside quickly erased that deficit.

""They have a new coach, new season, a lot of energy here," coach Sykes remarked of Dordt. "They're playing the number one picked team in the conference by the coaches, so there's a big bullseye and a lot of motivation with nothing to lose. They came out and they played really hard on both ends of the floor."

Dordt took advantage of an unproductive trip down the floor by Morningside, followed by a couple big three-pointers to stretch out to another six point lead with 11:34 to play. The Mustangs responded by keeping Dordt off the board for three minutes, while putting a pair of two-pointers by Tyler Borchers and a huge three for Ben Hoskins.
Dordt would get to back within three before a huge three-pointer from Alex Borchers would see the Mustang lead stay above six for the remainder of the game.

Morningside was led on the scoreboard by Brody Egger, shooting 50% from the floor for a total of 14 points. Trey Brown and Tyler Borchers both worked hard in the paint, tallying 13 and 12 points, respectively, with Alex Borchers wrapping up the double digit scorers with 10. As a team, the Mustangs shot 47% from the floor and 52% from the foul line.

Morningside pulled down 41 rebounds in the contest, 35 of which were on the defensive side of the ball.

"We managed to get by in some situations, and in others we were able to use our bigs and dominated inside. Between Tyler and Trey, we had 25 points in the paint from those big guys," said Sykes.

"We get down six in the second half, that's where you find out the character of your team and what you're made of. Our guys responded and it's 45-45 before you know it and we kind of had control of the game from there. Proud of these guys, but it's one game. It's a road game, it's big, obviously anytime you get a GPAC win on the road is big."

The Mustangs are back in action on Wednesday, Nov. 14 at 8:00 p.m. as they travel to cross-town rival Briar Cliff.