Box Score
MAYVILLE, ND – The Comets came back home to play in a non-conference matchup against Mount Marty College at the Lewy Lee Fieldhouse on Monday night, fresh off their conference win at Dakota State on Sunday. The Lancers came hungry for a win, and gave the Comets a very close run in that effort.
The two teams began in a tight battle, going back and forth and tying the game up at 13 and 20 points each. There was a scoring drought for over three minutes when the game was knotted at 13 until the Comets broke loose to go up by five, only to see the Lancers swing things their way with a quick run of their own. Their momentum continued as they went on a 13-to-7 run to go up, 26 to 20. The Comets found themselves down by eight at one point, before going on an 8-to-4 run to close out the half, only down by four to the Lancers at the break. Nine Comets scored, with
Gorg Alhag leading the team with seven as they went in at the half. The Comets were shooting better overall, 46% to 36%, but the Lancers were simply getting more shots up, including going 5 for 13 from behind the arc to make almost half their points.
It was another close second half in the final 20 minutes. The Comets kept things close as the score crept up to another tie at 42 apiece, with each side going up and down in some scoring swings. Things were tied up once again at 53, and each team kept trading blows all the way up to another tie at 62. Keeping the Comets in the game were
Gorg Alhag and
Garek Droog, who were contributing steadily with Alhag hitting from the outside and Droog being a force inside. The terrific twosome were a key to the Comets going ahead towards the end of the game. Droog kept connecting down low and draining his free throws, while Alhag poured in nine points in the final eight minutes. Mayville State took a 73-70 lead after Droog sunk a free throw and Coach Tighe called a time out with 1:50 remaining. The Comets did a stellar job of burning down the clock, and doing so for a good 1:13 of time after some shots turned into offensive rebounds. The Lancers had one last effort to try and tie things up, taking two long distance shots but coming up short. Alhag was fouled and sunk two more free throws to lock the game up for the Comets, winning 75-70 for their 9th win on the season, and second in a row. They have won eight of their last nine regular season contests.
"It wasn't pretty but we made enough winning plays down the stretch to squeak one out," Coach Tighe explained. "I'm happy for our guys to be able to celebrate a win over the holidays!"
Leading all scorers on the night was Marcus Mathieu for the Lancers with 21.
Gorg Alhag led the Comets with 19, followed up by
Garek Droog with 16.
Jack Turnbull chipped in nine and
Cameron Epps finished with eight. The Comets bench was deep again with production with eleven players scoring. Alhag and
Daniel Lindgren led the team in rebounds with six each.
Michael Slaba dished out six assists, part of a team total of 18. The Comets had a better second half of shooting, going 16-31 for 51%, raising their overall field goal percentage to 49% on the night. The team was 10-22 from long distance. They held the Lancers to just under 40% shooting in the game.
