Dec. 6, 2005

On Tuesday evening, the Dana College men’s basketball team looked to rebound from a Saturday’s loss to Bellevue University.  The task was not an easy as the Vikings stepped into Great Plains Athletic Conference play at Nebraska Wesleyan.  Dana came away with a close 74-70 win
 
Dana came ready to play and opened the game on a 7-2 run.  The Prairie Wolves refused to let the Vikings run away with the game. The two teams exchanged leads eight times in the first half, before Nebraska Wesleyan took a slim 37-35 lead into the locker room at half time.
 
The Vikings went on a 15-6 run over a five-minute span in the second half, which pushed the lead to eight points.  Nebraska Wesleyan cut the lead to three with a 1:30 left in the game.  The Viking defense stepped up its intensity and held the Prairie Wolves to only one point in the last 90 seconds.  
 
Nebraska Wesleyan had two chances in the closing seconds to pull even with Dana.  The Prairie Wolves missed two open shots in the closing minute but the Vikings got the offensive rebounds. Tyler Mohr (SR, Ocheyedan, IA) came up with a big steal to prevent a third shot attempt.  The Vikings leading scorer, Jason Isaacson (SR, Council Bluffs, Iowa), then stepped up and hit two big free throws in the final seven seconds to seal the win for Dana College.
 
“This was the best defensive output so far this year,” said Dana Head Coach Chris Fear. “We also shot really well (59 percent) the entire game.”
 
Four Dana players pulled down at least five rebounds.  The Vikings held the rebounding edge 35-31, but lost the turnover battle 20-7 on the evening. Isaacson led the team with 26 points. Mark Esser (SR, Woodbine, Iowa) contributed 19 points and six rebounds.  Robbie Cox (SR, Hawley, Minn.) had 12 points and six rebounds.
 
The Vikings improve their season record to 5-6 overall and are now 2-2 in conference. Nebraska Wesleyan falls to 5-3 overall and 1-3 in conference play.  Dana returns home on Thursday night.  The junior varsity takes on Morningside at 5:30 p.m. and then the varsity matches up against Peru State at 7:30 p.m.
 
Game stats are available at: http://www.dana.edu/mens_basketball/stats/dannwum.htm