Index of Sports Press Releases

Nov. 4, 2007

Tiger Men Take Two to Start the Season

Spearfish, S.D. — For the first time since the 1999-2000 season, the Dakota Wesleyan men’s basketball team traveled out west and won both games from South Dakota Tech and Black Hills State University. DWU opened the season with a 95-91 victory over S.D. Tech on Saturday (Nov. 3) night in Rapid City, S.D., then finished off the weekend with a 85-80 victory over Black Hills State on Sunday afternoon in Spearfish, S.D.

DWU opens the season with a 2-0 record and will have its home debut next weekend when they host Valley City State University on Friday and Jamestown College on Saturday at the Corn Palace.

In the season opener, six players scored in double figures to lead the DWU offense. Junior transfer Scott Nelson came off the bench to score a team-high 18 points in his first game in a Tiger uniform. Another junior transfer Colby Fitzgerald had 17 points, going 13-14 from the free throw line. Returning starter Preston Broughton scored 15 points, Chase Walder had 14, Marcus Vontz had 13 and Ike Muoneke added 10.

The Tigers shot an outstanding 57.1 percent from the floor and went 10-19 from 3-point range.

Michael Ross led Tech with 21 points.

On Sunday, the Tigers led by 14 points late in the first half, but BHSU went on a 17-3 run over the final four minutes to make the score 36-36 at halftime.

The game went back and forth for the majority of the second half. Finally DWU took a 68-63 lead with 6:41 to play and they would not trail again.

DWU sealed the game with another strong performance at the free throw line. The Tigers finished 27-32 from the charity stripe led by Fitzgerald’s 12-12 performance at the line.

Fitzgerald led four DWU players in double figures with 24 points. Broughton had his first double-double of the season with 21 points and 11 rebounds. Andrew Lasche and Marcus Vontz both added 11 points.