Northwestern College had its five-game win streak come to a halt with an 85-69 road loss to Dakota Wesleyan in a match-up between ranked teams played tonight in Mitchell, S.D. 

The loss drops Northwestern to 12-5 in the GPAC, 22-5 overall, with one game left to play in the regular season. They locked up the No.3 seed in the upcoming GPAC Tournament and secured a third place finish in the regular season.

The Red Raiders never led and fell behind by nine (13-4) following baskets by Trae Vandeberg and Jason Spicer. Dakota Wesleyan slowly extended its lead to as much as 14 (29-15) on a three-pointer by Collin Kramer with eight minutes left in the opening half. Northwestern answered back with its best run of the half, outscoring the hosts 15-6 during a six-minute stretch, led by the duo of Colton Kooima and Nathan Wedel who combined for 13 points during the run. Down by just five (35-30), Northwestern was outscored 7-2 over the final two minutes and fell behind 42-32 by intermission.

Back and forth action ensued for nearly the first 10 minutes of the second half, until, Northwestern made one last charge and outscored DWU 12-4 to make it a four-point game, 64-60, after a three-point play by Wedel with seven minutes left. DWU scored the next four points, however, to push the lead to eight but a Derek Buysse kept the Red Raiders in contact at the five-minute mark. The host Tigers put the game away with a 15-4 run during the final five minutes, beginning with a three-pointer by Tyson Smiley, who scored nine of his teams' points during the decisive run.

Northwestern shot 43% for the game, 25% (5/20) from the three-point line. Both Wedel and Kooima led the Red Raiders with 18 points and Buysse scored 11, nine coming in the second half on a trio of three-pointers. Korver's squad was outrebounded for the first time in seven games and for just the sixth time this season, 34-32. Riley Francis led NW on the boards with eight and Parker Mulder pulled down seven.

Vandeberg netted a game-high 25 points with Smiley right behind with 24 points and 12 rebounds. Spicer came up with 16 points and dished out eight assists. The Tigers shot 47% for the game, 30% (8/27) from the arc.