FREMONT, Neb. – Sometimes the realities of college basketball can be harsh. Midland Universitys mens basketball team picked up its first conference victory of the season back on Nov. 27 versus Hastings, but on Wednesday night, it was the Broncos who handed the Warriors one of their more disappointing losses of 2019-20.
The Warriors (7-11, 3-8 GPAC) failed to play with the necessary intensity and toughness to win a conference game on Wednesday as the Broncos (10-10, 3-7 GPAC) outplayed and outmuscled the Warriors on their way to a 90-70 road victory.
“We had a really tough night all the way around,” said Midland head coach Oliver Drake. “This will be a great game to learn and grow from as we continue to move forward.”
Bart Hiscock entered the game as the third-leading scorer in the conference and dominated the Warriors on the low block all night long. The senior forward equaled a career-high with 31 points and added 14 rebounds. Most impressively, 10 of Hiscocks rebounds came at the offensive end of the court.
Hastings outrebounded Midland 35-25 in the game and capitalized on 21 second-chance points. Those two stats proved to be the difference as the Warriors, even when double teaming, could not contain Hiscock and the Broncos post game.
Midland started fast and got out to a quick 11-2 lead less than four minutes into the game, but the Broncos promptly responded with a 15-2 run to take a 17-13 lead with 12 minutes to play in the first half.
After a back-and-forth affair for much of the first 20 minutes, the Broncos ended the half on a 10-3 run and took a 43-33 lead into halftime. Hastings never looked back from that point on and steadily grew its lead to as high as 22 points in the second period.
Of Hiscocks 31 points, 18 came in the second half, and many came by way of offensive rebounds. While he never went on a dominating scoring run, he impacted the game at both ends of the floor. The big man also made the most of his opportunities when he was fouled and knocked down all five of his free throw attempts.
Midland tried double teams all game, but to no avail. Freshman forward Samuel Mailloux was tasked with being the primary defender, but he collected his fourth foul of the game with over 16 minutes to play, which made things even harder for Midland in the post.
Despite a lopsided result, there were some positives for the Warriors, one of which was their balanced offense.
Freshman Kylan Smallwood was reinserted to the starting lineup and led the way with 17 points, but he was followed closely by sophomore Bowen Sandquist and freshman Jake Rueschhoff who finished with 16 and 15, respectively. The Warriors have relied on one guy to do all of the work a handful of times this season, but showed their depth and balance on Wednesday night.
Midland also only committed nine turnovers in the game and came away with seven steals. Both teams were dead even with 16 points off of turnovers each.
Its a sobering loss, but young teams are bound to have one of those as they work on their development and as they learn to deal with the grind of a long conference season. Its eye-opening for the guys in the locker room, but theres no immediate reason to panic.
“Nothing changes from what I believe about our guys and the positive trajectory they have shown this season,” Drake said. “I have great faith that out guys will respond to this tough game the right way.”
The Warriors get a chance to right the ship on Saturday, Jan. 18, when they take on the No. 7 Dakota Wesleyan Tigers at home at 4:00 p.m. The Tigers bested the Warriors 85-65 in the seasons first matchup on Nov. 16.
FREMONT, Neb. – Midland University team welcomed a tough opponent to Wikert Event Center in No. 2 Hastings College on Wednesday night. The Warriors battled tough but ultimately fell by a score of 84-72 despite outscoring the Broncos in both the second and fourth quarter.
Midland moves to 7-13 on the year with a 3-9 mark in Great Plains Athletic Conference action. Hastings improves to an unblemished 19-0 and 11-0 in GPAC.
The Warriors shot 43.4 percent (23-of-53) from the field compared to 50.8 percent (30-of-59) for the Broncos. Both teams surpassed their season average in free throw percentage as Midland shot 76.9 percent (20-of-26) while Hastings shot 88.9 percent (16-of-18). Midland held a 28-25 advantage in rebounds but committed 18 turnovers compared to 10 for Hastings.
Senior Amanda Hansen continued to find success as she led the team with 23 points to go along with four assists and four rebounds. Sophomore Peyton Wingert matched a career-high with 11 points while sophomore Lexis Haase registered ten points and four rebounds. Junior Makenna Sullivan chipped in seven rebounds and three assists.
Hastings got off to a fast start in the opening quarter before a layup by freshman Lexi Kraft brought the score to 8-2 with 7:02 on the clock. The Warriors continued to chip away at the lead as Emma Shepard with hit a long three, followed by a steal and layup to bring the score to 12-9 with three minutes to go. A layup by Hansen would see the score move to 14-11, but an eight-point run over the final two minutes of the quarter would give Hastings a 22-11 advantage.
The Broncos maintained a sizeable lead through the early-goings of the second quarter as a three by senior Maddie Meadows would bring the score to 29-17 with 7:43 on the clock. Wingert would go back-to-back thanks to a Hastings turnover as her four points brought the deficit to 38-27 with three minutes remaining. An 8-3 scoring run in favor of Midland saw the score at 43-34 with Hastings clinging to a lead heading into intermission.
Meadows kicked off the second half with a three to pull Midland within six points. A steal by Meadows resulted in a three by Kraft to bring the score to 51-42 with 6:27 on the clock. The teams would trade points before an eight point run gave Hastings a sizeable 68-51 edge in the final seconds of the quarter. A late layup by Emma Shepard saw the score at 68-53 heading into the final quarter.
The Broncos continued to add to their lead before five-straight by Midland brought the score to 72-58 with 6:20 to go. Midlands attempts to narrow the lead were denied by Hastings as the lead stood surged to 84-68 with 2:33 to go. A Hansen layup and two free free-throws by Wingert combined for a late run to bring the final score to 84-72.
Midland (7-13, 3-19) remains home and plays host to No. 12 Dakota Wesleyan University (13-6, 6-5 GPAC) on Saturday, January 18 at 2:00 p.m. The Warriors fell to the Tigers in the first game of the series (Nov. 16) by a score of 71-48.
