Box Score
MAYVILLE, ND – The Comets came back home to face Viterbo University in another North Star conference game on Friday night. They had quite a break since their last game, which was on December 17th on the road against Dakota State. After a contest that was scheduled for December 30th got cancelled, the Comets were hungry to get back into action again.
In the first few minutes of the game, the Comets were in a little bit of a slugfest as they took a 5-point lead, only to watch it get tied up just as quickly. The game became tied at ten, after that the Comets went on a little 7-0 run to jump ahead. A small surge by the V-Hawks shrunk the lead to four when the media timeout was called, with the Comets up 21 to 17. A nice stretch of offense by Mayville State helped take the lead at the half by twelve, 43 to 31. Scoring was coming from both inside and out from the deep bench that the Comets are becoming well-known for.
Garek Droog helped start that effort with a quick five points, followed with contributions from
Michael Slaba,
Gorg Alhag, and
Cameron Epps hitting three straight 3's for the team. That helped set the pace for the rest of the game.
In the second half, the Comets kept lighting up the scoreboard, including an impressive run of six consecutive 3-pointers by Alhag, Epps,
Taylor Delaughter, and
Daniel Lindgren, with Epps and Lindgren having two apiece in that spree. Viterbo took a time out with 10:26 to go, the score at 69-50 in favor of the Comets. The V-Hawks made one more run after their adjustments and went on a 9-2 run to drop the deficit to twelve. Another steady run by the Comets helped build the lead to 20 near the end, with the score reading 89-69 for another Comet win in the conference.
Leading all scorers were
Daniel Lindgren and
Gorg Alhag for the Comets, with 17 each.
Eric Staebler had a double-double night with 14 points and ten boards, followed by
Cameron Epps and his 12-point, four 3-pointer effort. The V-Hawks also had four players in double figures, with Jared Fleischmann leading with 16, Jason Tichy with 14, then Cade Anderson and Ethan Haberman with eleven each. Anderson had a double-double with eleven rebounds, as well.
The Comets were impressive in shooting from the field, going 30 for 55 with a nice 54.5% shooting percentage, and 15 of 24 from long range, a big 62.5% effort. A large part of the 3-point barrage was Lindgren connecting 4 for 8, Epps going 4 for 5, and Alhag going 3 for 4 with Delaughter going 2 for 3, as well. Ten players scored for the Comets, they held a key advantage in rebounds with 31 to 21 on the defensive side. The team also had 22 assists on the night, led by Alhag with six and Slaba with four.
Comets (10-3, 5-1 NSAA) will now take on Waldorf on Saturday evening at 5:00 pm at home for their next conference matchup.
