Hastings College Men's Basketball v. Dordt // HC Bronco Athletics
HASTINGS – The Hastings College men’s basketball team found itself in yet another nail biter and yet found another way to come out on top defeating Dordt 66-65 on Saturday evening inside Lynn Farrell Arena.
Early in the second half, the Defenders built a 38-29 lead with 14:20 to go and if the Broncos were going to make a move, now was the time. Reggie Thomas would quickly get things going getting to the rack for the layup. After a Defender free throw, Thomas went with the reverse layup to make it 39-33.
Following a jumper from Quinn Johnson, Thomas found a wide-open Nolan Sughroue for three to make it 41-38. Then Ben Boudreau attack the lane getting his guy in the air and then put away the layup to make it 41-40 with 11:54 to go.
The teams would trade baskets until Boudreau buried a three to tie the game 47-47 with just under 10:00 to go but Dordt’s Bryce Coppock countered with a three of his own to regain the lead. The Broncos turned to Thomas as he again got to the rack getting the layup plus the foul as the free throw was good and we were tied once again. Dordt’s Lucas Lorenzen would drain one of his six three pointers but Thomas countered with one of his own as the game was again tied at 53 with 7:51 to go.
After the teams went back-and-forth, Lorenzen drained another three to give the Defenders a bit of breathing room at 59-55 as HC called a timeout. Hastings would get a Johnson three but Dordt would get a layup from Ben Fairclough to make it 61-58 with 4:02 remaining.
Thomas came back and would get fouled going to the hole and would make both free throws and then the Bronco defense got a stop. Thomas again got rim for another layup to give HC the lead at 62-61 with 2:43 to go. After a Dordt timeout, Coppock worked a back door for a layup to give the Defenders the lead right back at 63-62.
That lead held up into the final minute when Grady Corrigan put up a jumper and miss but Thomas was right there for the put back to give HC the 64-63 lead with :51 to go. Dordt had an answer with a Connor Millikan layup with :25 to go.
Dordt then switched to an extended 3-2 zone but Johnson was wide open in the corner but his shot came up shot as Millikan came down with the rebound and would get fouled. Head Coach Todd Raridon called a timeout to ice Millikan and also set up his offense and it worked.
Millikan missed the front end of a 1-and-1 and Hastings had the ball with :14 to go. Thomas pulled for three and followed his shot as the ball came off the front of the rim and Thomas caught the board in mid-air and put back the layup to give HC the 66-65 lead with 3.9 to go.
The similarities from the Concordia game were uncanny as both teams called timeouts and then Dordt got the ball across halfcourt and called a timeout with 1.1 seconds to go in the exact same spot the Bulldogs had hit just a few days prior. Again, both teams called timeout and then when the ball was in bounded, Boudreau was able to knock the pass away as time ran out and the Broncos survive the upset bid from the Defenders.
Thomas led the way for the Broncos with a double-double with 26 points on 10-for-22 shooting while pulling down 11 rebounds. Johnson added 16 points off the bench as he went 6-of-10 and 4-for-8 from behind the arc. Boudreau finished with seven points and was 3-for-5 from the floor.
Hastings finished the game shooting 38.5 percent (25-for-65) while the Defenders were 38-.7 percent (24-for-62). Rebounds favored the Defenders 44-to-37 but points in the paint favored HC 22-to-16 and bench points also favored Hastings 26-to-7. There were five ties and seven lead changes in the hard fought basketball game.
Hastings improves to 14-4 (9-1) on the year and will be back in action Saturday Jan. 27 hitting the road to take on No. 14 Northwestern with tipoff set for 3:45 pm inside the Bultman Center in Orange City, IA.
