Raiders edge Defenders in instant classic

Northwestern faced off against longtime county rival Dordt on Wednesday in a game that was a battle of physical and mental wills for the entire 40 minutes of regulation and five-minute overtime.
The game ended with the No. 5 Raiders eeking out an 89-87 win against the No. 15 Defenders.
The score was tied on 10 occasions, and the sqauds traded leads 13 times throughout the game. The score was 45-45 at halftime, and by the end of regulation, nothing separated the teams at 80-80.
The Raiders held the ball for the final shot, but senior Daniel Van Kalsbeek’s jumper didn’t fall with seconds left. He managed to make an athletic move and grab his own rebound. While grabbing the ball in the air, Van Kalsbeek tried to quickly release a shot off the glass before the buzzer sounded. It rimmed out, and the 2,000-plus in attendance were in for free basketball.
Senior Ben Miller took over the game in the extra period and scored seven of the team’s final nine points in overtime.
“That’s about the best Northwestern-Dordt game that I have been a part of in a long, long time,” said Head Coach Kris Korver. He compared the game to a heavyweight boxing match, and was thrilled that his guys found a way to pull it together and come out on top.
“It was just a great team win,” Korver said. “We had guys doing a really great job making things hard for them.”
Miller scored a team-high 24 points and added five rebounds and six assists.
Van Kalsbeek added 18 points off the bench. Sophomore Levi Ettleman chipped in for 11 points, as well.
Senior Stu Goslinga battled through foul trouble to lead the team in rebounding with eight boards in only 15 minutes on the floor.
Despite shooting 60 percent from the floor, the Raiders had  trouble from the free throw line, where they sank only 54 percent of their tosses.
“There is a lot of basketball left to be played,” Korver said. “No one else in the GPAC is going to care what we did on Wednesday night against Dordt. We have games to play in the regular season, and our thing is we have got to stay faithful, got to do the little things, and we have to finish strong. No one is going to hand us anything.”
NW will face Concordia at 4 p.m. this Saturday in the Bultman Center.