Men's Basketball

Dec. 9th, 2006 -Aberdeen, S.D.	1st	2nd	Final	Records
Southwest Minnesota State	32	43	75	7-1, 4-0 NSIC
Northern State University	44	28	72	6-4, 2-2 NSIC

 

Wolves Lose a Tough Battle 75-72 to the Mustangs

December 8, 2006
ABERDEEN, S.D. – Despite trailing by 12 points at the end of the first half the Mustangs from Southwest Minnesota State were able to outscore the Northern State Wolves 43-28 in the second half and come away with a 75-72 victory in Aberdeen, S.D. With the win the Mustangs improve to 7-1, 4-0 NSIC, which is their best start in the programs history. With the loss the Wolves fall to 6-4, 2-2 NSIC.

The Mustangs came out on a mission in the first half as they jumped out to an early 14-7 lead off of a couple of three point shots from Travis Krenske and one from Nic Hogan. After the early flurry for the Mustangs the Wolves would out score them 37-18 the rest of the first half.

In the first half the Wolves shot an astonishing 75% (9 of 12) from behind the arc. Craig Nelson and Luke Wicks combined for 8 of the Wolves 9 three point shots in the half as Nelson went 5 of 7 and Wicks went 3 of 3. The Wolves were 15 of 26 in the half for 57.7% to the mustangs 9 of 21 for 42.9%.

The Wolves got assists on 12 of their fifteen baskets in the half as Dan Dewitt led the way with 4. The Wolves were led by Craig Nelson as he scored 16 points and the Mustangs were led by Jeremy VanKlompenburg as he scored 11.

In the second half Southwest State came out with one thing on their mind and that was to steal a victory on Northern State’s home court. The Mustangs used some tough defense and poor shooting from the Wolves to go on a 21-8 run to take their first lead since 5:03 in the first half at 53-52. The rest of the game was a back and forth battle but the Mustangs got three clutch three pointers down the stretch from Kevin Andrews, Matt Fletcher, and Travis Krenske. The Wolves Luke Wicks got a good look at a three point shot with 6 seconds left, but shot it a little strong and the Mustangs held on for the victory.

In the game the Wolves shot 68.4% (13 of 19) from behind the arc. Despite shooting the high percentage in the first half the Wolves faltered in the second half only shooting 37.0% (10 of 27) in the second half.

In the game the Wolves were out rebounded 27 to 25 and only had 16 points in the paint to the Mustangs 26. The Wolves were able to get three players in double figures as Craig Nelson scored 22 points on 7 of 11 shooting from three point range. Luke Wicks tied his career high in points with 15 on 5 of 10 shooting and Kevin Ratzsch scored 11 points on 4 of 9 shooting. Levi Hamilton led Northern State on the boards as he snared 6 rebounds.

Southwest State was led by Travis Krenske as he scored 21 points on 8 of 18 shooting and hauled in 7 boards. Jeremy VanKlompenburg was the only other Mustang in double figures as he scored 20 points on 9 of 11 shooting.

The Wolves will be in action next weekend when they take on Jamestown College on December 15 and Black Hills College on December 16. Both games are in Aberdeen and Friday's game will start at 7:00 pm and Saturday's game is set for an 8:00 pm start.