The Northwestern College men's basketball team lost to Dordt 94-89 in Great Plains Athletic Conference action played tonight in Sioux Center. Both teams are now 5-4 in the GPAC; Northwestern is 8-4 on the year, Dordt moves to 9-4.

Northwestern was led by the strong perimeter play of Jay Small (28 points) and the inside presence of Alex Van Kalsbeek, who continued his stellar freshman season with his second double-double (26pts, 11 rebounds). Trent Hilbrands and Craig Sterk both contrbuted 14 points for Head Coach Kris Korver's squad. 

The Raiders fell behind by as many as 17 (37-20) midway into the first half after Dordt went on a 12-0 run. Northwestern rallied behind the three-point shooting of Small, who knocked down a trio of perimeter shots during the final six-plus minutes to trim the lead to 49-41 at the half.

A three-pointer by Garrett Franken extended the Dordt back up to 14 (61-47) shortly after the 17-minute mark of the second half. From there, Northwestern began its rally, cutting the lead to single digits by the 10-minute mark and all the way down to three, 85-82, after a three-pointer by Grant DeMeulenaere with 4:44 left to play. 

Northwestern missed on two chances to tie the game over the next 1:30 and Dordt pushed its lead back up to seven with under two minutes to go. The Raiders would not get closer than four the rest of the way. 

Both teams shot above 50% for the game (Northwestern - 52%, Dordt - 55%); one of the key factors was three-point shooting with Northwestern going 7-for-26 (27%) compared to 37% by Dordt (7/19). 

Jesse Jansma led the hosts with 26 points, followed by Franken with 23, two of the five Defenders to score in double figures.