Lancers Men Win on 20th Anniversary

sports@yankton.net
BY SCOTT MORRISON

On the 20th anniversary of the first event at Cimpl Arena, the Mount Marty Lancers honored their home with a one sided 64-51 victory over the Concordia University Bulldogs.

The Lancers picked up only their second Great Plains Athletic Conference victory against the struggling Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon.

On their way to accomplishing this, the Lancers shot an outstanding 50 percent from the field and out-rebounded their opponents 33-20.

“We knew they had good players that could penetrate and shoot the ball well,” Lancer coach Jim Thorson said. “We were able to keep them at bay in the game and that led to our success.”

Senior Guard Pat Anderson led the way for the Lancers with 22 points. He shot 9-for-13 from the field, 1-for-1 from beyond the arc, and 3-for-3 from the free-throw line.

Seniors forwards Nathan Fischer and Stan Johnson each added ten points.

The Bulldogs began the game hot, making their first three shot attempts to give them a quick 8-4 lead.

“The first five minutes was good, but then it was a struggle for offense for the rest of game,” Bulldogs coach Grant Schmidt said.

The Lancers fought back with a 12-2 lead to give them a 18-12 lead.

During the run the Lancers received points at least two points from four out of their five starters. Anderson had four of the 12 points.

“I thought we started off lethargically on offense, but we took control and got the lead back,” Thorson said.

Keeping the lead throughout the first half was not a problem for the Lancers. At one point in the half, they had a 28-23 lead. They went into the half with a 31-27 lead.

After the half the Lancers broke the game open with a 16-0 run that spanned to the halfway point in the second half and gave the Lancers a 47-31.

Throughout the run the Bulldogs were ice cold, having trouble finding open shots and the inside of the net.

The run began with a steal by Pat Anderson after an errant pass by the Bulldogs. Anderson dribbled the ball coast-to-coast and converted the lay-up on the offensive side.

Anderson scored six points in the run along with an assist that he got after finding sophomore Justin Peters for a lay-up on a fast break.

Frustration set in for the Bulldogs who had trouble distributing the basketball and finding open shots.

They took their frustration out on the Lancers, sending them to the line 31 times. The Lancers went 17-for-26 from the free-throw line on the night.

The Lancers maintained their lead throughout the remainder of the game.

Mount Marty travels next to Orange City, IA where they will take on Northwestern University
on Wednesday.

Concordia University travels to Blair, Neb. where they take on Dana College on Tuesday.