Jimmies fall at Northwestern in GPAC semifinal

Feb. 28—Northwestern College had the University of Jamestown's number in men's basketball all season.

The Red Raiders, the only team to have defeated the Jimmies this winter at home, topped UJ for a third time Saturday at the Bultman Center in Orange City, Iowa. Northwestern freshman Alex Van Kalsbeek turned in 34 points and 11 rebounds in a 74-69 Red Raiders' victory in the semifinals of the Great Plains Athletic Conference postseason tournament.

Northwestern will host Mount Marty — the tournament's No. 8 seed — in Orange City on Tuesday to decide the tournament champion, as well as the conference's second automatic NAIA national tournament qualifier. Morningside is already headed to nationals as the conference's regular-season champion.

Mount Marty defeated Dakota Wesleyan University 64-58 in double-overtime Saturday in Mitchell, S.D.

"(Van Kalsbeek's) a stud and we probably should've looked to go to something different there," said University of Jamestown men's basketball coach Danny Neville in a postgame interview with Jamestown 107.1 FM. "He just killed us, but, again, there's nothing we can do about it now."

A pair of empty possessions for Jamestown in the final two minutes stung after the Jimmies had led 37-32 at the half.

Following bonus shots at the foul line by UJ's Mason Walters that tied the game at 65-65 with 2:25 to play, a Van Kalsbeek foul shot broke the tie, and missed shots by UJ's Jack Talley and Marc Kjos on back-to-back possessions resulted in buckets by Van Kalsbeek and Craig Sterk for the Red Raiders on the other end.

Northwestern's Isaac Heyer completed a back-breaking 6-0 spurt for the home team with another foul shot with 32 seconds on the game clock to put the Raiders out in front 71-65.

Van Kalsbeek scored 18 of his 34 after the break, including Northwestern's first seven of the second half. The game stayed tight throughout, but Northwestern pushed its winning streak to 12.

Walters finished with an NAIA-leading 21st double-double: 28 points, 12 rebounds.

"It's crazy, man, especially for a sophomore," Neville said. "He keeps working and he keeps getting better ... we just didn't have a great game tonight. That's a really good team."

Walters started the game just as he started UJ's quarterfinal victory at home Wednesday over Dordt University: nailing a 3-pointer and scoring the Jimmies' first five points.

UJ's defense held the Red Raiders to 1 of 8 from 3-point range in the first half. The Jimmies led by as many as eight before a late 8-2 run by Northwestern cut the advantage to 34-32. A Marc Kjos 3-pointer in the final 40 seconds sent UJ into the locker room out front by five.

Van Kalsbeek and Jay Small (24 points) were the only players to reach double figures in scoring for the home team.

Kjos and senior Jack Talley each finished scoring 12. UJ's 6-foot-11 Devon Schultz started the game in order to try and help the Jimmies slow down Van Kalsbeek.

The loss will most likely end Jamestown's season at 19-8. The Jimmies will wait and see if they are awarded an at-large bid to nationals, which opens at host sites on March 12.

GPAC Men's Basketball

Postseason Tournament

(Tournament seeds in parentheses)

Feb. 27

(2) Northwestern College 74, (3) University of Jamestown 69

UJ 37 32 — 69

NC 32 42 — 74

UJ — Mason Walters 28, Marc Kjos 12, Jack Talley 12, Brock Schrom 8, Cole Woodford 3, Allante' Pickens 2, Devon Schultz 2, Will Cordes 2. Totals: 29-70 FG, 7-22 3-pointers (Kjos 3, Talley 2, Walters, Woodford), 4-4 FT, 36 Rebounds (Walter 12, Schultz 9); 4 Assists (Kjos 4); 13 Turnovers; 3 Blocks (Talley, Walters, Schultz); 6 Steals (Praska 2, Walters 2); 13 Fouls (Birch).

NW — Alex Van Kalsbeek 34, Jay Small 24, Isaac Heyer 8, Craig Sterk 8. Totals: 30-58 FG, 4-15 3-pointers (Heyer 2, Small 2), 10-13 FT, 32 Rebounds (Van Kalsbeek 11); 13 Assists (Small 5); 11 Turnovers; 5 Blocks (Van Kalsbeek 3); 4 Steals (4 with 1); 11 fouls.

Records: Northwestern 22-5. Jamestown 19-8.

Feb. 24

(3) Jamestown 89, (6) Dordt 68

(8) Mount Marty 76, (1) Morningside 73

(4) Dakota Wesleyan 70, (5) Concordia 58

(2) Northwestern 83, (7) Briar Cliff 77

Feb. 27

Mount Marty 64 Dakota Wesleyan 58 (2OT)

Northwestern 74, Jamestown 69

March 2

Mount Marty at Northwestern, Time TBA.