No.8 Morningside scored the final 10 points to defeat No.11 Northwestern College 80-76 in the Great Plains Athletic Conference men's basketball championship played tonight at the RVSC-Allee Gym in Sioux City, Iowa. 

The Red Raiders are now 5-2 in conference title games and move to 25-6 on the season as they wait for the NAIA to release the pairings for the Division II Men's Basketball National Championship that will begin next week, March 7, in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Northwestern scored for the final time on a pair of Riley Francis free throws with 3:29 left to play, giving the Red Raiders a 76-70 lead. Morningside came back with a three-point play by Trystan Cummins and later scored a lay-up on a backdoor cut to make it a point game, 76-75. Following a timeout, Northwestern missed a three-pointer and the Mustangs fed the ball down to sophomore post Tyler Borchers, who scored the final of his game-high 24 points to put the hosts up 77-76, their first lead of the second half with two minutes left. 

The teams traded misses on the offensive end until Morningside went up three (79-76) on a baseline drive by Brody Egger, who just beat the shot clock off a feed from Borchers with 23 seconds left. Northwestern missed on a three-pointer to tie it late and the Mustangs made one of two free throws to clinch it in the final seconds. 

Colton Kooima led Northwestern with 23 points and pulled down a season-high nine rebounds. Derek Buysse scored 17, 14 in the first half, and both Francis (14) and Wedel (12) were also in double figures. 

Back and forth action in the opening minutes led to five lead changes early until Morningside went on a 9-0 run, ending with a three-pointer by Alex Borchers and a jumper in the lane by Tyler Borchers, giving the hosts a 17-12 lead. Northwestern came back with 10-0 run of its own, draining three straight three-pointers (2 from Francis, 1 by Buysse) to take the lead back 22-17. The Red Raiders stretched their lead to as much as 11 on another three-pointer by Francis and held a 44-35 edge at the half. 

Coach Korver's squad shot 46% from the field and an even better 53% (9/17) from the three-point line in the first half. 

Northwestern continued to lead throughout the second half, going up 12 (65-53) after a three-pointer by Parker Mulder with 10:40 left to play. Morningside began to rally, however, and made it seven-point game (65-58) until Kooima knocked down a long three-pointer to put the Red Raiders back up by double digits one last time at the six-minute mark. 

The Red Raiders cooled off to 42% for the game, 43% (15/35) from the arc. 

Tyler Borchers pulled down 16 rebounds to go with his 24 points, making 8-of-10 field goal attempts. Alex Borchers scored 15, most in the first half, and Egger added 14. The Mustangs held the edge on the glass (43-33), pulling down 10 on the offensive end. Both teams committed nine turnovers.

Northwestern and Morningside will both play in the NAIA Division II Championship, beginning next week in Sioux Falls, S.D. The NAIA will announce the pairings tomorrow night at 5pm via a selection show.