Blair, Nebraska ~ Time away from home recently has been tough for the Dana College Men’s Basketball team.  Coach Chris Fear’s young team dropped two road match-ups last week to Peru State 89-74 and nationally rated Sioux Falls 77-49.

Thursday’s match-up saw the Vikings travel South on Interstate 29 to Peru, Nebraska for their annual match-up with the Bobcats.  Dana dropped an 89-74 decision to Peru State.  The Vikings had their third highest scoring output of the season, but it was not good enough. Teddy Cox (SR, Hawley, MN) led the Vikings with 13 points on the evening.  Eric Maassen (SO, Hancock, IA) scored 12 points from his post position.  Maassen also pulled down a team high four rebounds.  Gabe Bross (SO, Omaha, NE) and Trent Mumma (JR, Bennington, NE) each chipped in ten points.  Doug Huston (SO, Olathe, KS) dished out four assists and had two steals on the evening.

The Vikings shot a warm 46-percent from the field and over 60-percent from the free throw line.  The Vikings were hurt by their three of 16 shooting from the three point arch.  Peru State was on fire from the field as they shot 58-percent and was six of 14 from behind the three point line.

Dana was not done with tough competition as they traveled up I-29 on Saturday to take on the University of Sioux Falls.  The Cougars are currently rated in the NAIA Division II top ten and do not have a player on their roster under 6’ 3”.  Sioux Falls downed Dana 77-49 on Saturday afternoon.

Things could not seem worse for the Vikings as they had to battle the first major snow storm and cold blast of the year.  It did get worse for the Vikings who shot only 29.2% from the field during the first half.  Dana could not find a way to get a clean shot over the tree-like Cougars.  The Vikings were held scoreless the final 5:13 of the first half.

Coach Fear would not let his teams quit.  Dana opened the second half on a 13-5 run to get within 13 points.  This was as close as the Vikings would get.  A quick USF timeout cooled off Dana and held them regain momentum.  Sioux Falls and Dana exchanged baskets the final ten minutes of the half.  The final score ended at 77-49.

Teddy Cox was tied the leading scorer for the Vikings with ten points.  Trent Albers (JR, Davenport, NE) added eight points off the bench.  Trent Mumma and Eric Maassen each added seven points.  Maassen and Gabe Bross each tore down four rebounds.

The Vikings rebounded the much taller Cougars 35-32, but could not recover from a poor shooting performance in the first half.

Dana will keep in conference play on Wednesday evening as they host Nebraska Wesleyan.  Nebraska Wesleyan is currently 4-3 (1-2) on the season and are on a three game winless streak.  Dana is 2-8 overall and 1-3 in conference.  Tip off is slated for 7:30pm on Wednesday.