Flying Colors - Mside notches key top 10 battle victory

SIOUX CITY, IOWA – Head coach Jim Sykes and his Morningside College coaching staff have been talking defensive intensity from the start of 2018-19.

Their Mustang team is listening … and intently.

Faced with a difficult task of a high-octane Briar Cliff University offense and loud Chargers' crowd inside BCU's Newman Flanagan Center Wednesday, Nov. 14, Mside kept its unbeaten overall and Great Plains Athletic Conference marks intact, toppling BCU 76-67 in a match-up of preseason National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics' top 10 ranked programs. The visitors kept their hosts well below their 90-points-plus per game average, as Briar Cliff shot just 39.4 percent from the field overall and less than 35 percent (31.3) from beyond the arc.

Those shooting numbers coupled with a 45-37 edge on the glass proved to be the biggest differences for Morningside. Junior forward Matt Hahn (Fremont, Neb.) and sophomore guard Zach Imig (Gretna, Neb.) led the attack with a pair of doubles with Hahn scoring 13 points and collecting 11 boards to along with one blocked shot, and Imig tallying 11 points, scrapping for 11 boards and dishing out four assists. The bench also figured in prominently with sophomore center Trey Brown (Gretna, Neb.) leading the scoring column with 17 points on eight of 12 field goal shooting.

After trailing 11-4 early on, the Mustangs got off the mat in a big way going on a 38-15 roll for a 42-26 advantage late in the first half. They never trailed after the run, thwarting a few Charger comeback attempts in the second half that got the home team as close as eight points.

Morningside (3-0 overall, 2-0 GPAC) plays back-to-back home conference contests prior to Thanksgiving. Northwestern College visits Allee Gymnasium and Rosen Verdoorn Sports Center for a 7 p.m. start Saturday, Nov. 17, and Doane College of Nebraska sojourns to Sioux City for a similar tipoff time Tuesday, Nov. 20.