Colton Kooima netted a game-high 37 points in leading No.13 Northwestern College to a 105-94 road win over Dordt College in a GPAC match-up played tonight in Sioux Center, Iowa.
The win snapped the Red Raiders two-game losing streak as they improve to 10-3 in the GPAC, 20-4 overall. Dordt falls to 3-10 in conference play, 12-13 overall.
Kooima paced Northwestern with 37 points, his second straight 30+-point game, and matched his career-best with six three-pointers. Nathan Wedel scored 20, 12 in the second half, and Derek Buysse chipped in 12 points and six rebounds. Chris Borchers (11) and Justin Van Kalsbeek (10) made it five Northwestern players who scored in double figures
How It Happened...
Northwestern scored the first five points of the game and led for nearly the entire game against the host Defenders.
Kooima scored eight consecutive points on a jumper and a pair of three-pointers as the Red Raiders built up a 32-24 advantage with 9:34 left in the opening half
A three-pointer by Buysse, his second of the game, gave Northwestern its largest lead (51-41) just before the half; two free throws by Alec Henrickson made it an eight-point game by the break, 51-43
Another basket by Buysse capped a 6-1 surge, giving the Red Raiders their largest lead, 64-53, at the 13-minute mark
Still up 11 (74-63), Dordt stormed back with an 11-2 run behind the shooting of Henrickson, who scored nine of the Defenders' points over the three minute stretch, and made it a two-point game, 76-74
Northwestern, however, gradually pulled away with a 17-10 run, led by Wedel, who scored seven consecutive Red Raider points, and Jordan Baker, who capped the surge with a three-point play, to put the game away.
By the Numbers...
Both teams shot well from the field; Northwestern at 59% for the game, 48% (11/23) from the three-point line; Dordt shot 52% for the game but just 27% (4/15) from the three-point line
Northwestern made 22-of-27 free throw attempts (82%) and Dordt converted 20/29 (69%) from the charity stripe
After being outrebounded by the Defenders in their Nov. 30 match-up, Northwestern won the battle of the boards 36-31 this evening.
The Red Raiders assisted on 14 of their 36 field goal attempts and committed 14 turnovers
Kooima has now scored 30+ points in five games this season and nine for his career
With his six three-pointers, Kooima moved past Keith Ranschau into eighth place all-time with 193 three-pointers for his career
Wedel has scored 20+ points five times this season
Jordan Baker led NWC with eight boards and Buysse grabbed six
Francis dished out five assists, followed by Wedel with four; Wedel moved past Curt Schilling and into 18th place all-time with 275 career assists
Dordt was led by Alec Henrickson with 36 points, going 12-for-19 from the field; Taylor Feenstra added 16 and Josh Van Lingen dropped in 12 coming off the Defenders bench.
