Men's Basketball Comes Up Short at Dakota Wesleyan

(Mitchell, SD) – In search of a confidence-boosting win, the men's basketball team fell just short at Dakota Wesleyan, falling 77-64.

After falling behind 3-0 to start the game, junior John Barnhill, making his first start as a Broncos, drilled a jumper to put Hastings on the board. Junior Myles Simon gave the Broncos the early lead with a three. Trailing 9-7, freshman Maverick Binder pulled from deep and put it in, then after a Tiger basket, Simon put the Broncos back in front at 13-11 on a three-point play with 13:13 remaining in the opening half.

Dakota Wesleyan took a brief 14-13 lead, but then Hastings went on a 12-0 run to go up 25-14. Sophomore David Hageman scored and after a stop, Simon scored inside the arc. Simon got a steal on the following defensive possession and found Binder for a transition basket to go up 19-14. 

Junior David Ogunlade continued the Broncos' run with a three-pointer, then after junior DaRon Hall went one of two at the line, Hall knocked down a jumper to cap the run at 25-14 with 8:05 left. Hastings held a double-digit lead until the 5:13 mark in the half when the Tigers started a 22-5 run to end the first half, as the Broncos trailed 42-35 at the intermission.

Barnhill scored the opening basket of the half, but the Tigers continued their end-of-the-half momentum by stretching the lead out to 11 at the 16:45 mark. Hastings fought back with a 7-0 spurt that included buckets from Boudreau and Barnhill, as well as a three from Binder to bring it back to 48-44 with 15 minutes left.

The trend continued with Dakota Wesleyan going back up 10, only to have Simon and Binder respond to cut the lead back to five. Then with the Tigers leading 58-49 about a minute later, Binder and Hageman drilled back-to-back threes to make the score 58-55 with 10:42 left.

Dakota Wesleyan called timeout at that point and was able to slow the Bronco momentum from there. The two teams traded baskets for the next four minutes after the timeout, then with the Tigers leading 66-60 with five minutes left, Dakota Wesleyan delivered an 11-4 game-clinching run to win 77-64.

Binder led the way for Hastings with 15 points and Hageman added 13 points, five rebounds, and two steals. Simon was the other double-figure scorer, finishing with 10 points, three assists, and two steals.

Up next, Hastings will host Doane on Wednesday, Jan. 15 at 7:45pm in Lynn Farrell Arena.