Dakota Wesleyan at Northwestern

• PREVIEW
• BOXSCORE

Game Time... The Northwestern College men's basketball team, seeded second, will host third seed Dakota Wesleyan this afternoon in the semifinals of the GPAC Men's Basketball Postseason Tournament. Tipoff is slated for 4:00 pm and will feature a pair of ranked teams. The Red Raiders are 25-4 and ranked seventh in the final NAIA poll while Dakota Wesleyan is 24-7 and ranked 16th.

Scouting Report... The Tigers finished third in the GPAC regular season with a 13-5 mark and are currently 24-7 overall. They are 16-3 in their last 19 games with losses at Dordt, Northwestern and Briar Cliff. DWU has won two straight games as they defeated USF in the final game of the regular season, 85-65, and rolled to a 98-79 win over Hastings in the quarterfinals.

The Tigers and Head Coach John Hemenway, in his third year with the program, average 83ppg, second best in the league. They lead the GPAC in assists and blocks, rank second in steals and field goal percentage (48%). Defensively, DWU is giving up 74ppg and teams are shooting 43% from the floor.

DWU is led by junior Preston Broughton who is third in the league in scoring (18ppg) and second in rebounding (8.8). He is shooting 55% from the floor. Junior guard Colby Fitzgerald is fifth in the league averaging 16.5ppg and leads the team with 57 three pointers. A pair of transfer juniors, Scott Nelson and Ike Muoneke, average 9.4 and 8.5ppg, respectively. Muoneke is shooting 55% from the field and is second in the GPAC in blocked shots (37). Freshmen Chase Walder and Brady Wiebe combine to average 16ppg while senior guards Andrew Lasche' and Marcus Vontz round out the starting lineup. Lasche' leads the GPAC with 152 assists and along with Walder, have 39 three pointers this season.

Last Time Out... Dakota Wesleyan defeated sixth-seeded Hastings in the quarterfinals, 98-79. With the score tied at 47 early in the second half, the Tigers outscored the Broncos 24-13 to take control with 10 minutes left. Preston Broughton and Colby Fitzgerald scored 21 and 19 points, respectively, to lead DWU.

Northwestern cruised to a 91-63 victory over seventh-seeded USF in the quarterfinals of the GPAC Tournament on Feb. 28. Schilling led five NWC players in double figures with 19 points, becoming the fifth player in the program’s history to score 2,000 points in their career. The Red Raiders shot 62% for the game and held USF to just 36%.

Red Raider Notes... Head Coach Kris Korver, in his eighth year with the Red Raiders, is the all-time winningest coach with a 217-47 record during his tenure. He has led his team to the national tournament in each of his seasons at NWC, twice winning the national championship.

Northwestern leads the GPAC averaging 88 points per game and is shooting a league-best 51% from the floor. As a team, they have made 235 three pointers (second in the GPAC) and shoot 41% from beyond the arc. NWC is the fourth best rebounding team (+5) and give up 76ppg.

The Red Raiders boast two players who have scored over 2,000 points in their careers in Chad Schuiteman and Curt Schilling. Schuiteman surpassed the milestone earlier this year and with 19 points in the Red Raiders quarterfinal win over USF, Schilling became the fifth NWC player to reach the milestone. Teammate Mark DeYounge is closing in on 1,000 points (988 coming into the game) and junior Kale Wiertzema is also getting close with 955. Schilling leads the GPAC averaging 20ppg and also has made a league-best 81 three pointers. Schuiteman is 10th in the GPAC in scoring at 14.6ppg and leads the league in rebounding with 11.4 boards per game. Wiertzema also averages in double figures at 13.3 and along with Schuiteman, rank in the top five in assists. DeYounge (9.4) and Andrew Stimson (8.5) are the other top scorers for NWC.

Last Meetings... This is the third meeting of the season between the two teams with Northwestern winning the previous two match-ups. Northwestern recorded a 100-95 victory in Mitchell, S.D. back on Dec. 5 in which Curt Schilling scored a career high 34 points. Kale Wiertzema added 20 points while Chad Schuiteman recorded a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Six DWU players scored in double figures, led by Marcus Vontz with 16 points. In the second meeting, Northwestern defeated the Tigers on a last second tip-in by Schuiteman, 84-82. The senior forward led the Red Raiders with 18 points and 14 rebounds while Preston Broughton scored a game-high 27 points and pulled down 13 rebounds for DWU.

Next up... The winner of this afternoon's game will advance to the GPAC Championship game on Tuesday night, March 4, and will play the winner of the Morningside/Briar Cliff match-up.