GPAC

[Men's Basketball] Men's Basketball Advances in GPAC Tournament

Doane Men's Basketball traveled to Orange City, Iowa, on Wednesday evening to open the Great Plains Athletic Conference Tournament against the Northwestern Red Raiders. Northwestern entered as the 3-seed with Doane earning the 6-seed on the season, with the Red Raiders winning the two regular season matchups. The old saying, "it is tough to beat a team three times in the same season" proved true on this night as the Tigers upset Northwestern, 64-61. The victory is the first over Northwestern in the postseason since the 2003-04 team did so in advancing to the tournament finals.Northwestern held the lead at halftime, 30-29, as they shot 48-percent from the floor to Doane's 38-percent. Alec Oberhauser (SR/Parkersburg, Iowa) led Doane with 10 points in the opening half.The Red Raiders jumped out to a 5-0 lead before Doane was able to get on the board as Anthony Laravie (SR/Omaha, Neb.) drove to the hoop, spun, and found himself all alone for a short jumper in the lane. Northwestern led 9-4 through five minutes of play and then Oberhauser scored eight straight points as the teams exchanged baskets, leaving NWC with a two-point lead. The Red Raiders would push the lead back to seven points on two occasions before the Tigers closed the half on an 8-2 run.Northwestern started with the ball in the second half and scored on a layup. Doane came down and Joe Burt (SR/Lincoln, Neb.) knocked down a kick out 3-point basket to tie the game. The Red Raiders scored the next four points to regain the lead before Doane threw a counterpunch with a 9-0 run to take their first and only lead of the game, one that would hold up for 15 minutes of game action.Josiah Gardiner (SO/Milford, Neb.) started the run with a dunk, which was followed by two Oberhauser free throws to tie the game and his layup put Doane in front. Brady Timm (FR/Yutan, Neb.) knocked down a 3-point basket to push the lead to five points, 41-36, before the Red Raiders would end a three-minute scoring drought.Doane's largest lead was seven points with six minutes to play. Northwestern used a 5-0 run to cut the lead to 57-55 with three minutes to play. The 3-ball was falling down the stretch for both teams, first from Laravie before a NWC 3-point basket brought the score to 60-58. Oberhauser then hit a 3-pointer with 47-seconds left. Doane would get a stop but turned the ball over on a jump ball and Northwestern came through with a 3-point basket to make it 63-61. Trey Winkler (SR/Gering, Neb.) was fouled and made the first free throw to push the lead to three points but the second attempt was off the mark.Northwestern took a timeout with seven seconds remaining and out of the break, was able to get a 3-point shot off but it was off the mark. The ball went out-of-bounds with 0.3 left on the clock and it was awarded to the Red Raiders. Following a Doane timeout, Northwestern inbounded the ball and it was caught with the player's back to the basket. He turned and shot, making it from behind the arc, but it waved off as the attempt had to come with the player already facing the basket on the catch in order to get the shot off in time.Oberhauser led the Tigers with 22 points, following up a 38-point outing against the Red Raiders earlier this month. He added seven rebounds as he was 7-of-10 from the floor, 4-of-5 behind the arc, and 4-of-4 at the free throw line. Laravie and Gardiner added 12 points apiece with Gardiner collecting team-highs with eight rebounds, three assists, and three blocked shots. Gardiner tied the single-season Doane record with 53 blocked shots on the season.Next up for Doane will be a short road trip to Seward to take on 2-seed Concordia this Saturday, February 26, at 3 PM. The Tigers and Bulldogs split their regular season series.