February 14, 2007

The men’s basketball team found conference play to be frustrating as they dropped a game at home and on the road.  Dana fell to Nebraska Wesleyan 87-71 in Lincoln over the weekend.  The game against Doane was scheduled for Tuesday, but had to be moved to Wednesday evening due to weather.  The Tigers fended off a stiff Viking come back and took an 83-74 win.

Nebraska Wesleyan rushed out to a 6-2 lead in the opening two minutes.  Jared Kitzelman (SR, Fremont, NE) hit a lay-up to pull the Vikings even.  Eric Maassen (SO, Hancock, IA) then took a Doug Huston (SO, Olathe, KS) pass and put the Vikings up three. The Dana lead was short lived as saw NWU stretch the lead to as many as 13 points.  Doug Huston drew the Vikings within three points as he drained a three pointer as the halftime buzzer sounded.

The Prairie Wolves extended their lead to 12 points in the opening minutes of the second half.  Teddy Cox (SR, Hawley, MN) drew Dana within four points as he drained a three pointer.  The Wesleyan lead hovered between four and eight points for a majority of the half; until a series of Viking misses saw the Prairie Wolves extend their lead.  Dana found themselves down twenty points with less than two minutes remaining.  Zach Genant (SO, Springfield, SD) hit two three-pointers in the final minutes to bring the lead down to 16 at the final buzzer.

Eric Maassen led the Vikings with 14 points and five rebounds.  Teddy Cox was the only other Viking in double digits with ten points.  Trent Mumma (JR, Bennington, NE) added nine points.  Mumma, Doug Huston, and AJ Arkfeld (FR, Harlan, IA) each had three assists.

Dana played its last home game on February 14 against Doane College at 7:30pm.  This was the last home game for seniors Zeb Christiansen (State Center, IA), Jared Kitzelman (Fremont, NE), Teddy Cox, and Rahshaw Sides (Bellevue, NE).

The Vikings found themselves down 11 points midway through the first half.  Trent Mumma (JR, Bennington, NE) took a pass from Doug Huston (SO, Olathe, KS) and cut the lead to eight points.  Dana would close to 23-17 on a fast break lay-up by Zeb Christensen (SR, State Center, IA).  Doane quickly regained their composure and increased their lead to 14 by halftime.

The start of the second half saw the Dana seniors take control of the game.  Rahshaw Sides (SR, Bellevue, NE) fed Eric Maassen (SO, Hancock, IA) for an easy lay-up to start the half.  Then Sides found Zeb Christensen on the fast break to cut the lead to ten.  Sides then forced Doane into a turn over, which led to Teddy Cox (SR, Hawley, MN) draining a three pointer from Jared Kitzelman.  The Vikings drew within four points of the lead.  Doane steadied their ship, but could not pull away from Dana.  Jared Kitzelman nailed a jumper in the lane to bring Dana within two points, but the comeback would stall.  The Vikings were forced to foul late in the game, but Doane hit their free throws to take home an eight point win.

Eric Maassen was the leading scorer for the Vikings with 17 points.  Teddy Cox added 15 points and two blocked shots.  Jared Kitzelman rounded out the double digit scoring with 14 points and a team high eight rebounds.  Doug Huston dished out seven assists on the evening.

The Vikings will play their final regular season game on February 17 at Dordt College in Sioux Center, Iowa.  Tip-off is scheduled for 3:00pm.  The conference tournament schedule will be released sometime Sunday afternoon.  The Vikings will likely be on the road Tuesday for the opening round of the tournament.

For more information, contact:


Shad Beam, sports information director, (402) 426-7389, sbeam@dana.edu

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Scott Guzinski, assistant Sports Information Director, (402) 426-7949, sguzinsk@dana.edu