Vikings Pull Opening Round Upset

The Dana College men’s basketball team pulled the lone upset in the first round of the GPAC men’s basketball tournament.  Dana, the ninth seed, defeated the Doane Tigers, the eighth seed, on the Tigers home floor 73-66.

Things did not look good for Dana College in the first half of Tuesday night’s game against Doane College.  The Vikings shot a lowly 40.7% from the field and committed nine turn-overs.  The Tigers capitalized on the sloppy ball handling and converted it into ten points in the first half.  Dana went into the locker room at half down 45-31.

The Vikings came out in the second half determined to take advantage of their dominace in the post.  Dana fed their low post players Eric Maassen (JR, Hancock, IA) and Gabe Bross (JR, Omaha, NE) the ball early and often.  Dana erased the 14 point halftime deficit with 22 points scored in the paint.  Dana also scored 14 points off of Doane turn-overs.

Eric Maassen scored 20 points and pulled down five rebounds.  Gabe Bross added 13 points and grabbed seven boards.  Jon Person (JR, Olathe, KS) added 13 points and seven rebounds off the bench.  Trent Albers (SR, Davenport, NE) chipped in 12 points in 11 minutes off the bench.

Dana improves to 15-16 overall on the season.  They will travel to Sioux City, Iowa to face the nation’s top rated team, Morningside College.  Game time for Thursday is at 8:00pm.

For more information, please contact Shad Beam, Sports Information Director at 402-426-7389 or sbeam@dana.edu