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Broughton adds GPAC honor to big week; Tigers up to No. 10

Preston Broughton (34) passed 1,500 career points Saturday and was named the GPAC Player-of-the-Week on Monday for the tenth-ranked Tigers. (Photo by Laura Wehde)

MITCHELL, S.D. – Heading into the 2009-10 season, the Dakota Wesleyan University men’s basketball team knew a lot hinged on how well star forward Preston Broughton bounced back from a season off after undergoing major knee surgery in the fall of 2008. Last week served as the biggest example that things couldn’t be going better for both Broughton and the Tigers, who moved into the Top 10 Monday.

Official GPAC Release

DWU beat a pair of ranked teams last week with Broughton leading the way and, for his efforts, he was named the Hauff/Mid-America Sports/Great Plains Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Player-of-the-Week for Winter Week 10. The honor adds to an already-memorable week for Broughton, who surpassed the 1,500-point milestone for his career on Saturday.

This is the fourth GPAC Player-of-the-Week award of Broughton’s career as he won it for Winter Week 3 in 2006-07 and Winter Weeks 5 and 8 in 2007-08. This is the third time in four weeks DWU has had the Men’s Basketball Player-of-the-Week in the GPAC as Darrin Dorsey won the honor for weeks seven and eight.

Broughton began his big week Wednesday with a dominant performance against the rival University of Sioux Falls. The senior forward from Corsica, S.D. had a 21-point, 10-rebound double-double with two assists, two blocked shots and he was nearly perfect from the floor with a 9-for-10 shooting performance. Broughton bookended the 83-75 win over the 16th-ranked Cougars with highlights as he opened with a spectacular three-point play and provided the exclamation point with a two-handed dunk to close the scoring.

The 6-6 senior was equally good Saturday at Concordia. He led all scorers with 26 points and just missed another double-double with nine rebounds. He blocked two more shots and was 10-for-15 from the floor in the win as DWU beat the 24th-ranked Bulldogs on their home floor and held on to first place in the GPAC standings.

Preston Broughton

For the week, Broughton averaged 23.5 points, 9.5 rebounds and two blocks per game while shooting 76.0 percent (19-for-25) from the field. The two wins helped the Tigers extend their winning streak to 10 games in a row and they passed the 20-win milestone for the fourth-straight season.

This season, Broughton bounced back remarkably well from last season’s injury to again rank as one of the conference’s top players. He currently leads the league in field goal percentage (.604), is ranked second in rebounding (8.9 per game) and blocked shots (1.65 per game) and is tied for 11th in scoring at 15.5 points per game.

Broughton reached another career milestone with his first basket in Saturday’s win at Concordia as he became just the 12th player in DWU men’s basketball history to record 1,500 career points. He currently sits at 1,525 points and needs just 17 more to move into 11th place on the career scoring list. Broughton will have an outside shot at moving into the top 10 – he needs 186 more points – depending on how many games DWU plays in the postseason.

Monday, the Tigers moved into the Top 10 in the latest NAIA DII Men’s Basketball Top 25 Coaches’ Poll with 304 points and the No. 10 ranking. DWU was previously tied for the No. 11 ranking in the country, but last week’s two wins over ranked teams helped the Tigers take a step forward into the Top 10. Sioux Falls (T-16) and Hastings (20) join DWU as the GPAC placed three teams in the Top 25, while Concordia and Briar Cliff appeared in the “Others receiving votes” section.

The red-hot Tigers will try to continue their win streak and take another step towards a GPAC regular-season title this week with a crucial road game at an in-state rival. DWU will travel to Yankton, S.D., Wednesday to take on Mount Marty College. Though the Lancers are just 5-20 overall and 3-11 in GPAC play, they play well at home and nearly beat DWU at the Corn Palace earlier this season. The Tigers escaped with a 79-76 win in the teams’ first meeting on Dec. 2. The women’s game will start at 6 p.m. Wednesday with the men’s game to follow at 8 p.m. Both games will be broadcast by 105.9 FM, KMIT, and online at www.KMIT.com.