The Mayville State Men's Basketball team wrapped up a quick weekend road trip in Iowa with one last stop at Dordt College in Sioux Center, Iowa to face the Defenders this Saturday afternoon. After facing a tough deficit in the first half to overcome, MSU battled back and outscored Dordt in the second half with a strong 22-9 run to fuel the effort. It wasn't quite enough for the Comets in the end as they fell in a 98-87 shootout.
MSU came out with some strong play as the game began and built their lead to 7 as
Eric Staebler poured in 6 of those 7 on 3 straight connections for the Comets. MSU worked hard to maintain it early on, but after a tie at 25 from Dordt, the Defenders found a groove. The Comets went scoreless for almost 4 minutes and Dordt took advantage of that by going on a 13-0 run in that time period. The lead extended further to 19 at the break, as some late turnovers and fouls from MSU were giving Dordt even more of an edge with a 53 to 34 score at the half.
Dordt continued to maintain a steady lead and fight off the pesky Comets for while, leading by as much as 20 until the Comets hit a nice stride with a 22-9 run in almost 7 minutes of play to narrow it down a seven point DC lead. That 22 point stretch was largely led by Dan Lindgren as he poured in eight with a three, a field goal and three free throws.
Gorg Alhag and
Leon Williams each sunk in a three pointer on the run to aid the team as they made their comeback effort. It wasn't quite enough near the end, even though the Comets outscored Dordt 53 to 45 in the second half. DC went on to take the contest 98 to 87.
Coach
Darren Tighe was pleased with the comeback effort that the team made and felt the leadership coming out of the locker room at the half was what the whole team needed to see, despite the road loss. "I loved how we battled back in the second half. There was no quit in this team and the leadership in the locker room at halftime was second to none from our seniors. We played two close games against two good teams on the road in tough environments. We have many things to fix but we are getting better!"
The Comets had five men in double figures overall:
Eric Staebler led with 16, followed by
Jack Turnbull with 14,
Leon Williams with 13,
Kobe Critchley with 12 and
Daniel Lindgren with 10. Lindgren led the team in rebounds with 6, while
Gorg Alhag had a game-high of 8 assists in the effort and a game-high of 4 steals as well. Turnovers were low for the Comets, only getting 11 while causing 17 for Dordt. It was a tough night on the boards though for MSU, as they had a team total of 28 to Dordt's 47. Dordt had 9 offensive rebounds while the Comets only had 2 in the game.
Next action for the Comets will be at Gustavus Adolphus College in St Peter, MN, on Saturday, November 10th at a 3pm start time for another non-conference game.
