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Dordt College Men's Basketball vs. Northwestern

December 5, 2012

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(Sioux Center, Iowa) The Defender men used a strong defensive effort in the second half, limiting the visiting Red Raiders to just 23 points in the final 20 minutes, to pick up a 64-56 win over Northwestern in a GPAC contest this evening (December 5). With the conference win the Defenders improve to 3-2 in conference and 9-2 overall while the Raiders move to 8-3 on the year and 4-2 in GPAC play.

After enjoying a brief 5-4 lead on an Austin Katje layup the Dordt Defenders were outscored 12-2 giving the visiting Raiders a 9 point lead (16-7) with 12:57 to play in the first half and Northwestern extended their lead to as many as 13 (23-10) with just under 9 minutes to do in the half.

Trailing by 10 (25-15) with 7 minutes to go, the Defenders got 5 straight points from Trevor Wolterstorff and a pair of Cliff Warner free throws made it a 3 point game (25-22) with just under 5 minutes to go. Northwestern built the lead back to 9 and took a 33-26 lead in to the locker room.

A tip-in by Daniel VanKalsbeek with 16:49 left on the game clock gave the Raiders a 39-31 advantage. The Defenders proceeded to hold Northwestern scoreless for the next 5 and a half minutes and the 14-0 Dordt run put the Defenders up 45-39 with 11:29 to play. "Our student body was tremendous," added Dordt Head Coach Ross Douma, "we are very grateful for the boost that we get from them."

The Defenders pushed their lead to 8 on three occasions and found themselves up 55-47 with 4:30 to play on an Austin Katje layup. The visitors got within 3 (57-54) on a Van Kalsbeek dunk with 3:13 to go. A pair of free throws by Cliff Warner put Dordt up 60-54 with 1:39 remaining and a jumper by Joey Habtemariam for the Raiders made it 60-56. Dordt made their final 4 free throw attempts to secure the much needed GPAC win at home.

"Our guys really laid everything out tonight and we really did a good job as a team defensively in the second half," said Douma. "It was a gutsy effort by our players, especially coming from behind. We had a lot of determination in our eyes at half-time and showed some great senior leadership. We are not a flashy team, we need to be a blue collar team and when we play that way we have success, that's the way we need to win games."

Trevor Wolterstorff led the Defender men with 19 points on 9 of 14 from the floor and 1 of 3 from the free throw line and also pulled down 6 rebounds. Austin Katje added 16 for Dordt on 6 of 10 from the floor, with 2 of 4 on threes and 2 of 2 from the line and snared 6 boards as well. Cliff Warner had 9 points with one made three and 6 of 6 from the charity stripe and also dished out 3 assists and picked up 2 steals. Kyle Lindbergh had 4 assists, 4 boards and 5 points.

Daniel Van Kalsbeek and Ben Miller each contributed 14 points for the Raiders with Miller also pulling down a game high 8 rebounds and had 4 assists.

The Defenders hit 21 of 49 from the floor (42.9%) and 4 of 11 (36.4%) from 3 point range and were 75% from the charity stripe, hitting 18 of 24.

The Raiders finished the night with 61 field goal attempts, knocking down 20 for 32.8%, with 6 of 23 (26.1%) from beyond the arc and 10 of 13 from the line (76.9%).

Northwestern held a slim 39-36 lead in rebounding on the game with the Raiders outrebounding the Defenders 24-16 in the first half while Dordt grabbed 20 in the second half to the Raiders 15. Dordt turned the ball over 15 times with Northwestern committing 15.

Scores from around the GPAC:
Morningside at 80
Dakota Wesleyan 69

(9) Northwestern at 56
(7) Dordt 64

Midland at 64
(14) Doane 65

Concordia at 68
(25) Briar Cliff 75

(RV) Hastings at 64
Nebraska Wesleyan 58

GPAC Standings:
(14) Doane 4-1/11-1
Morningside 3-1/5-5
(9) Northwestern 4-2/8-3
(RV) Hastings 3-2/10-2
(7) Dordt 3-2/9-2
(25) Briar Cliff 3-2/9-3
Concordia 2-3/5-4
Midland 2-3/4-5
Mount Marty 1-3/4-5
Dakota Wesleyan 1-3/4-6
Nebraska Wesleyan 0-4/4-4

Dordt College will travel to Lincoln, Nebraska on Saturday, December 8 to take on the Nebraska Wesleyan Prairiewolves at 4:00 pm in GPAC action.

Dordt's Current Record: 9-2 (3-2)
Opponent's Current Record: 8-3 (4-2)

Team 1st Half 2nd Half Final
Dordt College 26 38 64
Northwestern 33 23 56
Dordt Rebounding Leaders Total
Jordan Vogel 7
Trevor Wolterstorff 6
Austin Katje 6
Chris Sievers 5
Team Total: 36
Opponent Rebounding Leaders Total
Miller, Ben 8
Leeper, Zack 6
Van Kalsbeek, Daniel 4
VanderPlaats, josh 4
Team Total: 39
Dordt Scoring Leaders Total
Trevor Wolterstorff 19
Austin Katje 16
Cliff Warner 9
Chris Sievers 6
Team Total: 64
Opponent Scoring Leaders Total
Van Kalsbeek, Daniel 14
Miller, Ben 14
Habtermariam, Joey 7
VanderPlaats, Josh 5
Team Total: 56
Dordt Team Shooting Pct
Field Goals: 21/49 43%
3-Point Field Goals: 4/11 36%
Free Throws: 18/24 75%
Opponent Team Shooting Pct
Field Goals: 20/61 33%
3-Point Field Goals: 6/23 26%
Free Throws: 10/13 77%

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