Dordt Ends Eagles Season in Missouri
PT. LOOKOUT, Mo. - After leading 29-20 at the half, No. 10 seed Dordt College of Iowa pulled away for a 79-59 win in the first round of the 2013 NAIA Division II National Championships at the College of the Ozarks this morning. Northwest U. wraps up their third consecutive trip to the NAIA nationals and their third straight 20-plus win season.
Dordt held the Eagles (22-11) to 36% shooting (20 for 55) while they were efficient in hitting 53% of their shots (31-59). NU was hurt with Michael Greene getting into early foul trouble and eventually fouling out of the game in the second half. Greene did manage to score 14 points, but was kept off the boards with only 3 rebounds for the game, 5 below his season average. Turnovers hurt both teams with 31 total miscues, 16 of those by Northwest.
Northwest took an early 10-6 lead as Ryan McIntosh scored 5 of the ten points, but Chris Sievers’ 3 point play at 12:39 with pull the Defenders for Iowa to within one, 10-9 and Trevor Wolterstoff would hit a jumper to put Dordt in front 11-9 with 12 minutes to go in the half. The Eagles would struggle shooting the ball and would commit 11 turnovers in the half as Dordt would increase their lead to ten, 29-19 with 55 seconds left until the break. McIntosh would hit one of two free throws with one second remaining to make it 29-20 at the break.
Dordt would continue to keep a safe distance in the second half and Cliff Warner’s free throw with 7 minutes to go in the game would increase the Defender lead to 14, 56-42. Two more Warner free throws at the 1:12 mark would give Dordt a commanding 74-55 lead to help seal the first round victory.
Ryan McIntosh led the Eagles (22-11) with 18 points to lead the team with Michael Russo adding 7 and Nemanja Grujicic with 6 points. NU finished with 26 rebounds but allowed Dordt 36 boards. NU managed to hit 32% of their 3 points attempts (9-28) and were 10 for 14 from the free throw line (71%).
Cliff Warner Led Dordt (27-6) with a game high 20 points while teammate Trevor Wolterstoff added 15 for the Defenders from Sioux City, Iowa. Austin Katje scored 12 points and Kyle Lindbergh led both teams with 10 rebounds. Dordt moves on to play a 10:15 a.m. game tomorrow in the sweet sixteen.
"We're disappointed with our loss today," commented Eagle coach John Van Dyke, "but we have a great deal to be proud of when we reflect on the entire season. This team has overcome a lot in losing a starter early in the season and with numerous injuries. I'm proud of what we accomplished and was happy our two seniors were able to experience another trip to the national championships."