by SIOUX CITY, Iowa – Midland University traveled to Sioux City, Iowa on Saturday to take on Morningside University in a Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) matchup inside Allee Gymnasium. An early lead by the Mustangs led to a wire-to-wire win as the Warriors fell 100-88 on the road.
Morningside scored the first five points of the game as they built an early 14-2 lead through five minutes of play. As the teams began to trade points back and forth, the Warriors battled back with a 9-2 run. Seven points during the run to claw back in the game came from Derek Merwick, who had a career day offensively.
The Mustangs started to heat up, going on a 12-4 run, and held a 14-point lead heading into the final three minutes. The teams went back and forth into the final seconds before the end of the period. Heading into halftime, Morningside led 46-35.
After the intermission, Jake Orr got the Warriors going with a jump shot to start the second half. Morningside quickly responded with a three-pointer as it continued to keep Midland at arm’s length. A pair of baskets by Brayden Thompson and a three-pointer by Ryan Larsen saw the Warriors attempt to chip away at the gap. A three-pointer by Jake Rueschhoff started a 6-0 run and brought Midland within four points, 56-52, with 13:52 to go.
The Warriors kept things close up until the final five minutes when the Mustangs dialed up a 7-0 run to go ahead 91-75. They closed out the game with successful free throws and solid defense for the 100-88 conference win.
Derek Merwick led the team with a new career-high 40 points on 12-of-20 shooting from the field and 14-of-18 at the free throw line. Jake Orr added 15 points while Jake Rueschhoff and Ryan Larsen both finished with 9.
For the game, Midland shot 31-of-61 (50.8%) while Morningside was 35-of-60 (58.3%). The Mustangs shot 47.8% from behind the arc, 11-of-23, and had 44 points in the paint for a complete offensive outing.
“A lot to credit to Morningside tonight. They scored in a lot of different ways tonight, and are a top-tier team in our league and a top-tier team nationally,” commented head coach Tyler Erwin. “I’ll give it to our guys. We competed until the end. We got off to a slow start, which didn’t help, and playing from behind made it difficult. The one difference tonight for us was we made four three-pointers and they made 11. We have to be better offensively. I thought we passed up a few shots from three.”
“We’ve got to defend the three-point line better,” added Coach Erwin. “Good teams, such as Morningside, will expose you. After cutting their lead to four in the second half, I thought we had an empty possession on offense and just couldn’t get the stop when we needed to.”
