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Dordt College Men's Basketball vs. Briar Cliff

February 20, 2008

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(Sioux City, Iowa) For the second game in a row the Dordt College Defender men's basketball team never led by less than ten points in the second half of a Great Plains Athletic Conference win in an 83-70 win over the Briar Cliff Chargers on Wednesday night in Sioux City, Iowa.

The Defenders trailed early but used a 34-12 run to close the first half to take control of the game and earned the season sweep of the Chargers in the process.

Both teams started tight with Briar Cliff taking a 3-0 lead on a Kurt Webb three-pointer in the opening minutes and the two longtime rivals proceeded to go scoreless for the next three minutes. Michael Eekhoff scored the first seven points of the game for the Defenders and the visitors were down 9-7 with 13:47 left in the half. Briar Cliff proceeded to score the next five points and were up 14-7 when Dordt used a timeout. A Scott Van Zanten basket started a 11-0 run that saw the Defenders take the lead for good and was capped by a Mark Rowenhorst basket with 9:30 left in the half. Several different Defenders then knocked down baskets as Dordt built their lead to a 15 point bulge at 41-26 at halftime. Eric Van Maanen had three three-pointers in the first half and Michael Eekhoff had ten points and seven different players scored in the first half for Dordt College. Meanwhile, Briar Cliff's leading scorers, Adi Cizmic and Neil Rohe each had three points at the intermission.

A basket by Rohe early in the second half got the lead to 12 at 46-34 but the ripped off the next 14 points to take a 60-34 difference and Briar Cliff never got closer than 11 at the 1:52 mark as Dordt assured themselves of no worse than a fourth place finish in the GPAC. Briar Cliff is locked in at the fifth spot with one game to go.

Dordt shot 50 percent or better for the second game in a row making 29-56 shots from the floor for 51.8 percent and the Defenders made 11-22 three-pointers led by Eric Van Maanen's 6-9 night. The Defenders also got to the free throw line 21 times and made 14. Briar Cliff made 29-70 shots and relied heavily on the three-point shot, making 8-27 for 29.6 percent. Briar Cliff got to the free throw line four times and made all four shots. The Chargers held a slight 37-35 rebounding edge and turned the ball over 11 times to 10 for the Defenders.

Dordt's Eric Van Maanen led all scorers with 24 points while Michael Eekhoff and Scott Van Zanten both had 15 points and Brian Eekhoff added 12--all in the second half. Russ Griese came off the bench to hit two three-pointers and Brian Eekhoff had a tema high eigh rebounds. Van Zanten snared six rebounds and Chad Huenink and Kingma both had five caroms. Michael Eekhoff led Dordt with four assists and had two steals.

Briar Cliff's Kurt Webb had 14 and Neil Rohe 11 while Kelvin Adams came off the bench to score 10. Cizmic had a team high 10 rebounds and Brett Ratcliff handed out six assists.

Dordt is now 19-8 and 13-4 in the GPAC while Briar Cliff falls to 19-10 and 11-6 in the loop. Dordt travels to Morningside on Saturday and Briar Cliff goes to Northwestern.

GPAC Scores:
Dordt def. Briar Cliff 83-70
Northwestern def. Morningside 93-90 ot
Sioux Falls def. Mount Marty 74-69
Doane def. Hastings 63-61
Midland Lutheran def. Nebraska Wesleyan 82-60

GPAC Standings
Morningside 15-2
Northwestern 14-3
Dordt 13-4
Dakota Wesleyan 12-5
Briar Cliff 11-6
Hastings 8-9
Sioux Falls 8-9
Nebraska Wesleyan 7-10
Doane 7-10
Dana 6-11
Concordia 4-13
Mount Marty 3-14
Midland Lutheran 3-15

Dordt's Current Record: 19-8 (13-4)
Opponent's Current Record: 19-10 (12-5)

Team 1st Half 2nd Half Final
Dordt College 41 42 83
Briar Cliff 26 44 70
Dordt Rebounding Leaders Total
Brian Eekhoff 8
Scott Van Zanten 6
Logan Kingma 5
Chad Huenink 5
Team Total: 35
Opponent Rebounding Leaders Total
Adi Cizmic 10
Neil Rohe 7
Team Total: 37
Dordt Scoring Leaders Total
Eric Van Maanen 24
Scott Van Zanten 15
Michael Eekhoff 15
Brian Eekhoff 12
Team Total: 83
Opponent Scoring Leaders Total
Kurt Webb 14
Neil Rohe 11
Kelvin Adams 10
Team Total: 70
Dordt Team Shooting Pct
Field Goals: 29/56 52%
3-Point Field Goals: 11/22 50%
Free Throws: 14/21 67%
Opponent Team Shooting Pct
Field Goals: 29/70 41%
3-Point Field Goals: 8/27 30%
Free Throws: 4/4 100%

For more information, please contact Mike Byker, Sports Information Director, at mbyker@dordt.edu or (712) 722-6301.