By Andrew Schnebel–
The Morningside Mustangs men’s basketball team faced off against the number 6 nationally ranked Dordt Defenders Wednesday night in Rosen Verdoorn.
The Mustangs suffered a heart breaking loss. The ending score was 83-74. Kevin Zoz led the scoring for the Mustangs with 15 points. Three of the five starters were also in double figures. Garth Hamilton had 14 points, Bryan Borchers had 13, and Danny Rudeen had 10 points. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to keep up with Dordt’s guard Cliff Warner, who finished with 31 points.
Their record fell to 12-11 on the season and 7-7 in the GPAC. The Mustangs, in front of an estimated 1100 fans, came out strong in the first half going back and forth with the Defenders. The largest lead for the Mustangs came towards the end of the first half when they were up by three. That lead didn’t last long as they trailed at halftime by four.
Second half shooting by Dordt happened to be too much for the Mustang men’s basketball team to handle. A late surge at the end of the game brought the Mustangs within four points of a win but a costly turnover let Dordt run away with the game.
“It was a disappointing loss, everybody played really hard,” said sophomore guard Danny Rudeen. “They made some key plays down the stretch that put the game out of reach.”
The loss was the team’s third in a row. This dropped the Mustangs to four games out for top of the conference and sits them in fifth place.
Next up for the Mustangs is a home game Saturday afternoon against Midland University. The showdown begins at 4.
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