Eric Jackson hit a long jump shot with 0:04 remaining in overtime and Cliff Warner’s game-winning 3-point attempt at the buzzer was off as Nebraska Wesleyan held on for a 71-69 upset victory over #7 Dordt College in GPAC men’s basketball action on Saturday (Dec. 8) at Snyder Arena in Lincoln.
It is the fourth straight time that the Prairie Wolves have knocked off the Defenders in Lincoln, with three of those wins coming over the nationally-ranked Dordt team.
NWU picks up their first GPAC win of the season to move to 5-4 overall, 1-4 in GPAC play, while the conference preseason favorite Dordt falls to 9-3 and 3-3 in conference.
At the end of regulation, NWU trailed by one point with under a minute to play. Trent Scheitel drove the lane and was fouled to go to the line for two shots. Scheitel hit the second free throw to tie the game at 61-61. On Dordt’s possession, Byron Thompson knocked the ball loose from Cliff Warner and Scheitel recovered giving the Prairie Wolves the ball with 17 seconds left. NWU held for the last shot and Thompson’s driving layup just rimmed out to send the game to overtime.
In overtime, Jackson came out on the first possession and hit a jump shot. Dordt answered to tie the game back up. Jackson then hit a big 3-pointer with 3:12 left in OT to put NWU up 66-63. The Prairie Wolves hit 3-6 from the free throw line over the next possessions and led 69-66 with 0:42 left.
Dordt came down the court and found Warner who nailed a deep 3-point shot to tie the game at 69-69. The Prairie Wolves then held on for a late shot and Jackson was open for an 18-foot jump shot on the left wing and he nailed it to give NWU the eventual win.
Nebraska Wesleyan actually trailed by 11 points in the second half with 9:10 remaining. The Prairie Wolves chipped away at the lead and eventually took the lead on a pair of free throws by Sass Karemae with 2:59 left.
In the first half, NWU built up a five point lead at 19-14 with 8:01 before halftime but Dordt went on a 12-0 run over the next six minutes and led 31-26 at halftime.
Jackson was the game’s leading scorer with 19 points on 6-10 shooting and 3-4 from 3-point range. Trevor Johnson came off the bench to play 33 minutes and scored 17 points with seven rebounds. Tim Schweitzer and Jonah Bradley each scored eight.
Austin Katje led Dordt with 16 points as five Defender players scored in double figures. Tyler Wolterstorff and Jordan Vogel each had 11, with Cliff Warner and Chris Sievers scoring 10. All-American Trevor Wolterstorff was limited to nine points on 3-8 shooting.
Nebraska Wesleyan will take this momentum into two road GPAC games next week starting on Wednesday (Dec. 12) at Midland University.
