Morningside College picked up just their third win in the last 13 contests as they came into Lincoln and spoiled the Nebraska Wesleyan men's basketball senior day with a 71-62 victory over the Prairie Wolves on Saturday afternoon (Feb. 20) at Snyder Arena.
Nebraska Wesleyan finishes the 2009-10 season with a 10-15 overall record and a 8-10 mark in the GPAC to finish eighth in the GPAC standings. Morningside improves to 12-17, 6-12 in GPAC play.
The win for the Mustangs was their 12th straight over NWU as they have won every meeting since they entered the GPAC in 2003-04.
NWU ends the season on a three-game losing streak, but still managed to post the most GPAC victories since 2004-05.
Morningside led 37-33 at halftime, after leading by as many as nine points in the first half.
The game started great for NWU as they built up a 19-10 lead and had the home crowd on their feet. The Mustangs then scored 18 unanswered points to go ahead 28-19. NWU finally ended their scoring drought of over six minutes when Jake Spurgeon hit a jumper at the 6:37 mark.
NWU closed within one point in the first five minutes of the second half after a pair of Jim Lance free throws cut the lead down to 43-42 with 15:36 to play. Morningside responded with a 10-3 run to build the lead back up to nine.
The Prairie Wolves had their chances late in the second half as Nick Dinan cut the lead to five, 65-60, with just over 2:00 to play. After a Mustang free throw, Dinan had a wide open look from 3-point range in the corner, but it didn't fall and the Prairie Wolves would not score until the final seconds of the game.
Although the season ended with a loss, NWU's two seniors Ryan Thramer and Jake Spurgeon had solid performances in their final game.
Thramer, who made his 91st consecutive start, led NWU with 15 points hitting three 3-pointers. With those 15 points, he finished his career with over 800 points. Spurgeon scored seven points and led NWU with five assists. With his seven points, he ended his career with over 500 points.
Jim Lance scored 13 points and led NWU with seven rebounds, while Nick Dinan added 10.
Mitch Carstens sparked the Mustangs with a game-high 18 points. Garth Hamilton scored 11 and Adam Palmer had 10 points and eight rebounds.
