MITCHELL, SD – The Hastings College men’s basketball team fended off a furious Dakota Wesleyan rally and held on to defeat the Tigers 74-73 on Saturday afternoon inside the Corn Palace.
Early on in the contest Hastings ran a balanced offense that the Tigers struggled to contain and the Broncos were able build a solid lead in the first half.
With HC up 12-11, Reggie Thomas would knock down a three and then Nolan Sughroue drilled one of his own as Hastings quickly jumped out to a seven point lead. The lead hovered there until Danilo made a layup from the low block as the lead increased to double digits at 25-15 with 10:43 to go first half.
The Broncos would maintain that lead until late in the half when DWU made a bit of a run at the Broncos getting to with five at 40-35 until Thomas found Quinn Johnson for an easy bucket and then Thomas stole the rock from Blaze Lubbers and got the layup to go as Hastings led 44-35 at the break.
Early in the second half, Ke’Sean Ladd picked up an and one and got the free throw to go followed by a mid-range jumper from Grady Corrigan which put HC up 59-43 with 13:23 to go in the game.
But the Tigers came roaring back as Hastings went ice cold and even went more than five minutes without scoring which allowed DWU take the lead at 68-65 with 1:54 to go.
The Broncos didn’t panic as Thomas came off a screen and rattled home a three to tie the game 68-68 with 1:45 left to play.
The Tigers countered with two free throws but Thomas beat his guy off the dribble getting the off balanced layup to go tying the game at 70 with 1:07 to go. DWU then picked up two more free throws by Thomas would get fouled on the wing and he would drain both of his free throws to tie the game again 72-72 with :27 to go.
DWU was looking to hold for the last shot but Ladd would get called for holding sending Samuel Aslesen to the line for two shots. He made the first but missed the second opening the door for Hastings. Thomas wasted no time pulling downt he board and launched a pass forward to Anthony Thompson as he would miss the layup but Johnson was there for the offensive board as he would get fouled sending him to the line for two shots.
Johnson camly made both free throws as Hastings now led 74-73 with 1.3 seconds remaining. After both teams called timeout, Dakota Wesleyan got the ball to Nick Wittler but he was unable to get the shot off before the buzzer as Hastings escaped with the 74-73 victory.
Even with the over five minute lull from the floor, Hastings still shot nearly 54 percent (29-for-54) from the floor while DWU shot 43.8 percent (21-for-48).
One of the reasons DWU was able to hang around was the free throw discrepancy as the Tigers were 27-for-31 from the line while HC was just 9-for-11. The rebounding edge favored the Broncos 31-to-21.
Thomas led the way for Hastings with a game high 27 points on 10-of-17 shooting while pulling down seven boards and dishing out six assists. Johnson added 13 points on 4-of-10 shooting but was a perfect 4-for-4 from the line. Corrigan finished with nine points while Tyrique McMurrin added eight points.
Hastings improves to 5-2 (2-0) on the year and will be back in action Tuesday Nov. 21 as Midland comes to town with tipoff set for 7:45 pm inside Lynn Farrell Arena.
