Chairmen of the Board - Glass totals key league road victory

YANKTON, S.D. – Senior center Tyler Borchers (SR/Le Mars, IA ) (LeMars, Iowa) and senior forward Matt Hahn (SR/Fremont, NE ) (Fremont, Neb.) guided National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics' Division II top-ranked Morningside College in a 40-minute Great Plains Athletic Conference thriller Thursday, Jan. 2.

Mount Marty College, among the impressive stories of the 2019-20 NAIA D2 scene with a road win at the always-tough World's Only and Famous Corn Palace in Mitchell, S.D., over No. 7-ranked Dakota Wesleyan University as part of a 13-3 overall and 5-2 loop start that helped them crash the top 25 at No. 23, proved their mettle in front of a near-capacity crowd at Laddie E. Cimpl Arena. The Lancers shot better than 50 percent from the floor which included draining 17 three-pointers to push the mighty Mustangs to the limit.

However, at the end of the evening, with the scoring reading a 91-87 win for head coach Jim Sykes' squad that increased their record to 15-0 overall and 8-0 in the conference, one statistical category stood out. A 37-25 rebounding advantage was the important section and featured many Maroon standouts. Tyler Borchers, who led four players in double digits for the Maroon with 22, gathered eight; senior forward Ben Hoskins (SR/Wayne, NE ) (Wayne, Neb.), totaling another big effort from the bench with eight points, grabbed five boards; junior guard Zach Imig (JR/Gretna, NE ) (Gretna, Neb.) who's nine points moved him within 25 of the 1,000-point club, also cleaned the glass with five rebounds; and the trio of Hahn, senior guard Alex Borchers (SR/South Sioux City, NE ) (South Sioux City, Iowa), and junior center Trey Brown (JR/Gretna, NE ) (Gretna, Neb.) picked up four each.

Hahn's four boards added to a glowing 18-point, seven-assist stat line, while Alex Borchers finished with 10 points, the four rebounds, and three assists. Brown came off the bench with nine points, his four caroms, and an assist to accentuate a perfect shooting night from the field (four-for-four). Freshman guard Will Pottebaum (FR/LeMars, IA) (LeMars, Iowa) continued to make his presence felt with his third double-figure scoring outing (11 points) to go with two rebounds and a steal.

A brief 6-0 run in the 15-minute mark of the second half gave Mside a 54-50 lead they wouldn't relinquish. MMC closed within one three times and tied it once from that point but could never regain the advantage.

The Mustangs are back home for a showdown with the No. 7-ranked Tigers of DWU Saturday, Jan. 4. Game time inside Allee Gymnasium of the Rosen-Verdoorn Sports Center is 4 p.m.

NOTES: Tyler Borchers moved past former teammate Brody Egger on the all-time scoring list, taking over No. 4 (1,684). He's registered double-figure points in five straight contests and 10 of his last 11 appearances … Alex Borchers, who is a point shy of 1200 for his career, has moved into No. 20 on the all-time points list and can climb into 19^th with two points and into 17^th with 20-or-more this weekend.