Raiders taste first defeat of season

The men of No. 8 Northwestern recovered from their first loss of the year against No. 16 Morningside before righting the ship with an 80-76 victory at home against Mount Marty on Wednesday night.
Against Mount Marty, all five of the NW starters reached double figures as the Raiders held off a late Lancer comeback to improve to 8-1 (3-1) on the season.
Junior Daniel Van Kalsbeek led the offensive attack with 21 points. Fellow junior and big man in the paint Stu Goslinga added 19 points while going 8-12 from the field goal. Sophomore Zack Leeper dropped 14 points despite going 0-6 from the three-point range.
From the guard spots, senior Jon Kramer scored 11 points, dished out seven assists and ripped down seven rebounds. Junior Ben Miller was also in double figures with 10 points,  and led the whole squad with nine boards.
Leeper believes the contribution by the starters  is enhanced by the chemistry the entire squad has.
“Our team is so close,” Leeper said. “It really is a brotherhood on our team.”
The Raiders shot 53 percent from the field, with many shots being taken in the paint. They were less successful from beyond the arc, making only two of their 14 attempts.
NW led by as much as 14 in the second half, but Mount Marty was down only three points with 30 seconds left.  The Lancers’ potential tying bucket did not fall, and NW held on for the win.
On Nov. 22, NW dropped their contest to Morningside 102-88. Despite a career best game by Goslinga, who scored 33 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, the Mustangs shot 53 percent on field goals and had 61 points contributed by four bench players.
“We weren’t prepared mentally,” Leeper said. “We came out flat in the first half, and in the second half we just plain got beat.”
Miller was next in line with points and boards, with 16 and seven, respectively. Leeper dropped 13 points.
Going into the locker room only down by six, the Raiders kept the game close until the midpoint of the second half, in which a Mustang run made the gap 82-69 with seven minutes left. NW’s last ditch attempt at a comeback was thwarted by Morningside’s shooting.
The Raiders were out-rebounded 33-31 on the contest, which was the first time this year they had found themselves behind on the rebounding margin.
NW will look to continue their roll as they travel this Saturday to Lincoln, Neb., to play Nebraska Wesleyan. Then currently undefeated No. 5 Dordt comes to town for a Wednesday night  matchup in the Bultman.
“We want to be aggressive in our next games,” Leeper said. “We want to shut down key players and make the other team’s bench and role players step up.”