Upscale Upperclassmen - Egger, Borchers guide Mustangs

ORANGE CITY, IOWA – A 17-7 run midway through the second 20 minutes was enough to send National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics' Division II No. 4-ranked Morningside College to a Great Plains Athletic Conference win Saturday, Jan. 19.

Head coach Jim Sykes Mustangs, who never trailed during the 40 minutes at Northwestern College's Bultman Center for Health, Physical Education and Intercollegiate Athletics, held off a feisty home-standing Red Raiders' crew that got up off the mat after trailing 36-15 with just over five minutes to go in the first frame. NWC managed to catch their loop rivals at 60-60, but the veteran-laden Maroon side had another surge left in them which turned the tide in a 90-85 decision.

At the front of the charge that brought the conference leaders to 18-1 overall and 11-1 in the GPAC was senior guard Brody Egger (SR/Urbandale, IA) (Urbandale, Iowa) and junior forward/center Tyler Borchers (JR/Le Mars, IA ) (LeMars, Iowa). Egger turned a hard-nosed road environment into something akin to his home Allee Gymnasium at the Rosen Verdoorn Sports Center, hitting on all eight of his field goals, each of five three-point attempts and all of his four free throw tries to finish with 25 points, good for his third 20-point-plus effort of the year. His game resume didn't end in the points column, either, as he picked off three Red Raider pass attempts to lead Mside. Borchers landed on a similar number points-wise, going eight-of-12 from the field and nine-of-12 at the charity stripe to go with five rebounds, two assists, a steal and a blocked shot. It was his seventh successive double-digit outing and the fourth time he was at-or-above 20 points.

The Mustangs return home Thursday, Jan. 24. Hastings College of Nebraska is in town for an 8 p.m. tip-off.

NOTES – Senior guard Pierce Almond (SR/Grand Island, NE ) (Grand Island, Neb.) resumed an impressive personal string. He drained two three-pointers for his eighth straight appearance with multiple made treys … Sophomore guard Zach Imig (SO/Gretna, NE ) (Gretna, Neb.) returned to the line-up, just missing double-figure digits. He finished with nine points, three rebounds, and two steals.