Mustang men drop second league contest

ORANGE CITY, IOWA – Morningside's men's basketball team suffered its second conference loss of the season, coming at the hands of Northwestern College's Red Raiders on the road. The Mustangs, 5-3 in the Great Plains Athletic Conference and 9-3 overall, fell to the host Raiders, 86-79. 

Northwestern took a lead early in the game, forcing the Mustangs to play from behind for the first seven minutes of the game. Trey Powers gave Morningside the upper hand for a moment with 13:22 to play until the intermission, but NWC snagged the lead right back.

Brendan Buckley matched Powers' trey, giving Morningside its last lead of the contest with just over 12 minutes left in the first half. The Mustangs would trail by 10 at the break, but go on to narrow the gap to as few as five midway through the second half.

The Mustangs were a perfect 16-for-16 at the free throw line, but shot 43.1 percent from the field, trailing Northwestern's 50.8 percent. Northwestern also had a 15-6 advantage on second chance points.

Morningside was led by Ely Doble, who netted 23, including a slam that would have had an Allee Gym crowd roaring. Skoff followed with 21 points, and Trey Powers had 16. Aidan Vanderloo had nine of the bench's 12 points in the contest. Jack Dotzler had four points and was credited with seven assists.

Powers, Buckley, and Doble split top honors for the Mustangs' rebounders, each collecting six boards in the contest. 

The Mustangs travel to Jamestown, N.D. on Thursday, playing the Jimmies at 6:45 p.m.