Box Score

FOREST CITY, IA – The Comets finished out their regular season and conference season play by making their last weekend stop at Forest City, Iowa to take on Waldorf University. The two teams were in the thick of an unusual mix for post-season seeds in the NSAA conference tournament, and both were hungry to end with a win.

The Warriors jumped out early and took advantage of some cold shooting from the Comets, taking an 11-2 lead before Coach Darren Tighe took a timeout to regroup his squad. It was a wise decision as the Comets began to find a little bit of a groove, coming back to close the gap to five with about nine minutes to go when the media timeout was called. They would come as close as three after Daniel Lindgren had a surge of six points mixed in with a 3-pointer by Michael Slaba to make it 31-28 with the Warriors still in the lead. They were unable to hold Waldorf back in the final minutes of the half as Waldorf ended it with a 7-2 run to take a 38-30 lead going into the locker rooms. 

From the start of the second half the Comets were trying to keep within reach, but saw Waldorf continue to pull away in a steady fashion. Coach Tighe called a timeout once Daniel Lindgren hit a three with 10:20 to play, which the Comets used to gain a bit of momentum and narrowed the gap to nine to come back from a 16-point deficit. The Comets would get to within eight once again, and tried to foul some Warriors to send them to the line and cut down the time on the clock. The strategy kept it close for a while, but it soon got out of reach as the Warriors were able to sink 16 free throws for their final points, while the Comets were unable to string together a successful run. The rim was not friendly to the Comets from long range as they went unusually cold, shooting 4-26 from 3-point territory. The Warriors came away with the victory, 77-63. 

Leading all scorers with a game high 18 was Daniel Lindgren for the Comets, he also led the team in rebounds with six. Eric Staebler was next in line with eight. Three Comets had seven each, those being Michael Slaba, Gorg Alhag and Garek Droog. For the Warriors, they had four players in double figures with Brady Kuchinka leading the team with 16, and a double-double night from Eric English with twelve points and eleven boards. 

The Comets finished the regular season with a 15-10 winning record, and went .500 with an 8-8 record in the NSAA. This sets up a rematch against Waldorf on Thursday night in the Warriors' gym, tipofff is set for 7:00 PM. The semifinal matchup is set for Sunday for the team that advances.