Mustangs make history with 11-0 start
By Terry Hersom Journal sports editor | Posted: Sunday, December 09, 2007
Dana's Nate Thies tries to slap th ball away from Morningside's Seth Atkins during action at Allee Gym on Saturday afternoon. (Staff photo by Jim Lee)
Jim Sykes knew this was a special Morningside College basketball team before the season ever started.
He certainly knew it before the Mustangs won their first 10 games and vaulted all the way from No. 25 in the pre-season NAIA Division II ratings to No. 2 when the first in-season national poll was released on Wednesday.
Saturday, after an 82-57 victory over Dana let Morningside improve to 11-0, equaling the best start in school history, the Mustangs' head coach allowed himself a cursory glance at the big picture.
"I'm hoping this team can leave a mark,'' said Sykes. "All they have to do is keep looking at what is right in front of them.''
Yes, the old "one game at a time.''
It continued working for the Mustangs against a Dana team that narrowly missed handing another undefeated team its first loss Wednesday night.
The Vikings of Coach Chris Fear, who fell to 0-5 in Great Plains Athletic Conference play with the Saturday setback, led ninth-ranked Hastings 65-55 with just over six minutes left before the Broncos stunned Dana with a game-ending 16-0 run for a 71-65 win.
Senior guard Jack Rother broke out of an early season shooting slump, tossing in a game-high 18 points to help Morningside coral its fourth GPAC win in as many tries.
Hastings, 13-0 after escaping Sioux Falls 76-74 on Saturday, leads the Mustangs by one-half game with a 5-0 conference mark.
"I haven't really needed to score that much,'' shrugged Rother, who came into contest averaging just over 11 points after tossing in 19.1 a game last winter. "I've just tried to get it done on the defensive end and let whoever's hot do their thing.''
Rother, who was shooting 38.3 percent from the field with eight three-pointers in 28 tries (.286), connected on seven of 10 shots in this one, sinking both of his three-point attempts.
"I guess the first few games I haven't been really attacking the basket,'' he said. "Maybe I did a little better on that tonight.''
Thomas Pargett, averaging a team-high 14.3 points, tacked on 17 points in the victory while Seth Atkins netted 12 and Shane Michael 11, hitting all three of his three-point tries.
Dana, 6-8 overall, gave the Mustangs plenty of trouble in the first half, hitting 14 of 22 shots (.636). However, Morningside answered that by converting 15 of 22 (.682), building a 44-35 lead at the recess.
"That was probably fun for the crowd to watch, teams trading baskets like that, but I wasn't enjoying it a whole lot,'' said Sykes. "It was just a matter of picking it up on defense.''
Dana, indeed, made just seven of 30 second-half shots (.233) as Morningside gradually widened its advantage.
The Vikings whittled a 16-point deficit down to 10 at 65-55 with 4:41 remaining, but Morningside outscored the guests 17-2 the rest of the way.
Dana's Fear, a native of Everly, Iowa, wasn't pinning it all on Morningside's defense.
"A lot of easy, missed shots by Dana College,'' complained Fear. "But, yeah, (Morningside) did a good job.
"I knew this was going to be a tough week for us, but I think we took some confidence from the Hastings game and I think we'll be better off. We're still developing as a group.''
Trent Mumma, Fear's only senior starter, led the Vikings with 12 points while 6-7 junior center Eric Maassen tacked on 11 and junior guard Doug Huston had 10.
Morningside, which has matched an 11-0 start by the school's 1995-96 squad, can reach 12-0 for the first time ever with a non-league home win next Saturday over Grand View.
That will be the final game for the Mustangs before they gain the services of 6-7, 240-pound Nick Thompson, a junior transfer from Bettendorf, Iowa.
Dana (57)
Min FG FGA FT FTA Reb Ast PF TP
Doug Huston 29 4 8 0 1 3 1 2 10
Trent Mumma 23 6 9 0 1 2 0 3 12
Sean Johnson 30 0 5 2 2 3 5 4 2
Gabe Bross 23 2 6 4 4 2 0 4 8
Eric Maassen 28 4 11 3 4 3 0 3 11
A.J. Arkfeld 19 0 2 0 0 1 1 2 0
Trent Albers 6 0 0 0 0 3 0 2 0
Zach Genant 18 2 5 3 3 0 1 1 8
Danny Peterson 9 3 5 0 0 2 0 1 6
Nate Thies 15 0 1 0 0 6 1 2 0
Team 3
Totals 200 21 52 12 15 28 9 24 57
Morningside (82)
Min FG FGA FT FTA Reb Ast PF TP
Thomas Pargett 26 6 12 2 2 5 4 1 17
Matt Johnson 27 2 4 3 4 4 3 2 9
Seth Atkins 22 3 6 6 7 5 3 3 12
Jack Rother 30 7 10 2 3 4 3 3 18
David Price 25 3 4 1 5 6 0 1 7
Shane Michael 15 4 4 0 0 1 0 0 11
Brady Helmink 13 0 3 0 0 2 1 1 0
Greg Nelson 15 0 1 0 2 1 0 2 0
Mitch Carstens 10 1 3 0 0 0 0 3 2
Lee Kubik 16 2 5 0 1 5 1 1 4
Bryan Fink 1 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 2
Team 3
Totals 200 28 52 16 26 36 15 17 82
Dana 35 22 -- 57
Morningside 44 38 -- 82
3-point shots -- Dana 3-13 (Huston 2-3, Genant 1-4, Peterson 0-1, Arkfeld 0-2, Johnson 0-3); Morningside 10-17 (Michael 3-3, Pargett 3-6, Rother 2-2, Johnson 2-3, Atkins 0-1, Helmink 0-1, Carstens 0-1).
He certainly knew it before the Mustangs won their first 10 games and vaulted all the way from No. 25 in the pre-season NAIA Division II ratings to No. 2 when the first in-season national poll was released on Wednesday.
Saturday, after an 82-57 victory over Dana let Morningside improve to 11-0, equaling the best start in school history, the Mustangs' head coach allowed himself a cursory glance at the big picture.
"I'm hoping this team can leave a mark,'' said Sykes. "All they have to do is keep looking at what is right in front of them.''
Yes, the old "one game at a time.''
It continued working for the Mustangs against a Dana team that narrowly missed handing another undefeated team its first loss Wednesday night.
The Vikings of Coach Chris Fear, who fell to 0-5 in Great Plains Athletic Conference play with the Saturday setback, led ninth-ranked Hastings 65-55 with just over six minutes left before the Broncos stunned Dana with a game-ending 16-0 run for a 71-65 win.
Senior guard Jack Rother broke out of an early season shooting slump, tossing in a game-high 18 points to help Morningside coral its fourth GPAC win in as many tries.
Hastings, 13-0 after escaping Sioux Falls 76-74 on Saturday, leads the Mustangs by one-half game with a 5-0 conference mark.
"I haven't really needed to score that much,'' shrugged Rother, who came into contest averaging just over 11 points after tossing in 19.1 a game last winter. "I've just tried to get it done on the defensive end and let whoever's hot do their thing.''
Rother, who was shooting 38.3 percent from the field with eight three-pointers in 28 tries (.286), connected on seven of 10 shots in this one, sinking both of his three-point attempts.
"I guess the first few games I haven't been really attacking the basket,'' he said. "Maybe I did a little better on that tonight.''
Thomas Pargett, averaging a team-high 14.3 points, tacked on 17 points in the victory while Seth Atkins netted 12 and Shane Michael 11, hitting all three of his three-point tries.
Dana, 6-8 overall, gave the Mustangs plenty of trouble in the first half, hitting 14 of 22 shots (.636). However, Morningside answered that by converting 15 of 22 (.682), building a 44-35 lead at the recess.
"That was probably fun for the crowd to watch, teams trading baskets like that, but I wasn't enjoying it a whole lot,'' said Sykes. "It was just a matter of picking it up on defense.''
Dana, indeed, made just seven of 30 second-half shots (.233) as Morningside gradually widened its advantage.
The Vikings whittled a 16-point deficit down to 10 at 65-55 with 4:41 remaining, but Morningside outscored the guests 17-2 the rest of the way.
Dana's Fear, a native of Everly, Iowa, wasn't pinning it all on Morningside's defense.
"A lot of easy, missed shots by Dana College,'' complained Fear. "But, yeah, (Morningside) did a good job.
"I knew this was going to be a tough week for us, but I think we took some confidence from the Hastings game and I think we'll be better off. We're still developing as a group.''
Trent Mumma, Fear's only senior starter, led the Vikings with 12 points while 6-7 junior center Eric Maassen tacked on 11 and junior guard Doug Huston had 10.
Morningside, which has matched an 11-0 start by the school's 1995-96 squad, can reach 12-0 for the first time ever with a non-league home win next Saturday over Grand View.
That will be the final game for the Mustangs before they gain the services of 6-7, 240-pound Nick Thompson, a junior transfer from Bettendorf, Iowa.
Dana (57)
Min FG FGA FT FTA Reb Ast PF TP
Doug Huston 29 4 8 0 1 3 1 2 10
Trent Mumma 23 6 9 0 1 2 0 3 12
Sean Johnson 30 0 5 2 2 3 5 4 2
Gabe Bross 23 2 6 4 4 2 0 4 8
Eric Maassen 28 4 11 3 4 3 0 3 11
A.J. Arkfeld 19 0 2 0 0 1 1 2 0
Trent Albers 6 0 0 0 0 3 0 2 0
Zach Genant 18 2 5 3 3 0 1 1 8
Danny Peterson 9 3 5 0 0 2 0 1 6
Nate Thies 15 0 1 0 0 6 1 2 0
Team 3
Totals 200 21 52 12 15 28 9 24 57
Morningside (82)
Min FG FGA FT FTA Reb Ast PF TP
Thomas Pargett 26 6 12 2 2 5 4 1 17
Matt Johnson 27 2 4 3 4 4 3 2 9
Seth Atkins 22 3 6 6 7 5 3 3 12
Jack Rother 30 7 10 2 3 4 3 3 18
David Price 25 3 4 1 5 6 0 1 7
Shane Michael 15 4 4 0 0 1 0 0 11
Brady Helmink 13 0 3 0 0 2 1 1 0
Greg Nelson 15 0 1 0 2 1 0 2 0
Mitch Carstens 10 1 3 0 0 0 0 3 2
Lee Kubik 16 2 5 0 1 5 1 1 4
Bryan Fink 1 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 2
Team 3
Totals 200 28 52 16 26 36 15 17 82
Dana 35 22 -- 57
Morningside 44 38 -- 82
3-point shots -- Dana 3-13 (Huston 2-3, Genant 1-4, Peterson 0-1, Arkfeld 0-2, Johnson 0-3); Morningside 10-17 (Michael 3-3, Pargett 3-6, Rother 2-2, Johnson 2-3, Atkins 0-1, Helmink 0-1, Carstens 0-1).
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