Red Raider men dominate in opener

The Northwestern men’s basketball team began their conference schedule Wednesday night against Briar Cliff and submitted a dominant performance, defeating the Chargers 99-69 in a battle of undefeated teams. The Raiders improved to 6-0 on the season and 1-0 in the GPAC while Briar Cliff fell to 5-1 and 0-1 in the GPAC.
The Raiders were led in scoring by junior post Stu Goslinga, who dropped 20 points on 8-11 shooting. Senior guard Ben Miller added 18 points, and Jon Kramer handed out 8 assists in the Raider win.
“The star of our team is the team,” said head coach Kris Korver. “We have some outstanding individual talent, but we need everybody. When no one cares who gets the credit, you have a real foundation for future success.”
The game remained close until half time, as the Raiders entered the locker room only leading by eight. But they quickly ran that lead up to 15 when play resumed, and ended up outscoring Briar Cliff 56-34 in the second half. After going 0-5 from beyond the arc in the first half, the Raiders shot 71 percent in the second, going 5-7.
NW also dominated Briar Cliff on the glass, outrebounding the Chargers 50-28. The Raiders were led by Ben Miller, who grabbed 12 rebounds himself.
On Saturday, the Raiders faced a resilient, athletic Dickinson State squad in the Pizza Ranch Classic. After jumping out to a 23-2 lead early, NW appeared poised for a blowout. But Dickinson State hung around, and in the second half cut the lead all the way down to 49-42 before the Raiders pulled away again to win 76-60.
“[Dickinson State is] a good team,” Korver said. “They didn’t lay down and die. But our guys were able to sustain throughout the game. They have three really outstanding players. We made things difficult for those three.”
Sophomore Zack Leeper led the Raiders with 18 points, while Goslinga added 12 points and pulled down 13 rebounds. Miller also added 12 points in the win.
“Our guys really prepared well,” Korver said. “They knew a few things Dickinson wanted to do, and we made it difficult for them to do that. When you force someone to do what they don’t love to do, the game becomes less fun, and that makes you not play as well.”
On Friday, NW defeated Grace College 98-84. The Raiders completely dominated Grace inside, dropping 60 points in the paint, and grabbing 23 offensive rebounds. Junior post Daniel Van Kalsbeek scored 20 points, shooting a very efficient 9-13 from the field, while Goslinga added 14 points and nine rebounds.
The Raiders next game is against Midland on Saturday.