Stretch Run - Win streak reaches 10

CRETE, NEB. – National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics' Division II second-ranked Morningside College needed every bit of a hard-nosed 40-minute effort to overcome a feisty Doane College team Wednesday, Feb. 13.

The Mustangs, upping their current win streak to 10 and moving to 25-1 overall and 18-1 in the Great Plains Athletic Conference, scored 14 of the first 21 points on the host Tigers inside their home Haddix Center. However, from that point until midway through the final frame, the battle was a nip-and-tuck one, as both sides held the lead and neither had it by more than the original seven-point cushion Mside had early on.

Enter senior guard Pierce Almond (SR/Grand Island, NE ) (Grand Island, Neb.). With the Maroon leading 55-54 with just over six minutes to play, Almond put the team in his capable hands. He scored nine points and picked up a pair of steals in the span to ignite an 18-8 end run that finished off a 73-62 victory. Almond's joy was strengthened by a seven-of-eight effort from the free throw line by the Mustangs.

Almond's 14 led five in double digits. Junior guard Alex Borchers (JR/South Sioux City, NE ) (South Sioux City, Neb.) wound up with 12; junior center Tyler Borchers (JR/Le Mars, IA ) (LeMars, Iowa) continued an impressive streak of 14 straight double-figure totals with 11 to go with 12 rebounds for his fourth double-double; sophomore guard Zach Imig (SO/Gretna, NE ) (Gretna, Neb.) wasn't far from compiling his own double-double, scoring 11 to go with eight rebounds; and junior forward Matt Hahn (JR/Fremont, NE ) (Fremont, Neb.) tallied 10 points and six rebounds.

Morningside winds up the 2018-19 regular season Saturday, Feb. 16. They travel to the University of Jamestown for a 4 p.m. contest.