SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- It was déjà vu for the Minnesota West men's basketball team as they faced the University of Sioux Falls JV for the second consecutive game.
The Bluejays followed up last Saturday's victory against the Cougars with another on Friday night, winning by a score of 74-67.
The Cougars held the lead at half time, and during a closely played second half, MW grabbed a one-point lead with nine minutes to go.
The rest of the game the Bluejays weren't able to gain a big lead, but they made the big plays they needed to at the end of the game to seal the win.
"We made some big stops and some big rebounds to finish up the game," head coach Justin Heckenlaible said. "It was a very close back and forth game in the second half, really no big lead by any team. It was a really great effort on the road against a team that we just played a week ago. It was very similar to the last game."
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MW's offense was paced by a trio of players with point totals in the mid teens.
Jordan Mackins led the team with 16 points, and Dontreal McKinley and Halden Van Whye contributed 15 and 14 points, respectively.
Terence Reid tied with Mackins and McKinley with a team-high two 3-pointers, and contributed 10 points overall.
The Bluejays improved to 4-2 on the season, and will play at home against Dakota-Wesleyan on Nov. 30.
The game will tip-off at 7 p.m., which is an amendment from the game's original scheduled time.
Bluejays 27 47 -- 74
USF JV 28 39 -- 67
MW (3FG-2FG-FT-TP) Styles 1-1-1-6, Reid 2-1-2-10, Mackins 2-6-2-16, Akoi 0-1-0-2, Van Whye 1-2-7-14, Joseph 1-0-0-3, McKinley 2-3-3-15, Ring 0-1-0-2, Rode 0-0-2-2. Totals 9-15-17-74.
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USF JV (3FG-2FG-FT-TP) Weah 1-2-2-9, Richardson 1-3-1-10, Sieperda 0-1-0-2, Nielson 1-0-0-3, Coughlin 0-2-0-4, Braun 0-5-1-11, Cutler 1-3-7-16, Hughes 0-3-6-12. Totals 4-19-17-67.
Women
USF JV 82, MW 71
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- With just less than three minutes remaining in Friday's women's college basketball game, Alyssa Smith scored a bucket to give Minnesota West a 71-69 lead.
The Lady Jays wouldn't score again.
Brooke Olsen scored nine consecutive points as the University of Sioux Falls Junior Varsity team finished the game on a 13-0 run in an 11-point victory.
"With a little under three minutes left, we took a 71-69 lead," MW head coach Mike Fury said.
"They scored the last 13 points. I think Alyssa made a bucket to put us up by two with a little under three left, and we never scored again."
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There wasn't much defense in the first half, as the first 20 minutes ended in a 44-all tie.
"The first half was kind of run and gun," Fury said. "We played very well offensively and we didn't play so good 'D', we gave up a lot of points.
"The second half was a little bit better defensively."
The Lady Jays (4-2) played from behind most of the second half, before taking the two-point lead late in the game.
"We played pretty well in the second half," Fury said. "We got down by six or seven midway through the half. We worked our way back in it and had good poise and patience. Then we got down by five later in the game, but at the three-minute mark, we'd caught them and went back up by two. We just couldn't close it out."
Alyson Drooger finished with a team-high 20 points for MW, while Smith added 15 points. Erica Thier had 11 points in the game.
Olsen finished with 18 points for the Cougars, while Larae Zimprich had a game-high 21 points for USF.
The Lady Jays will return home on Monday to face the Morningside Junior Varsity. Game time is slated for 7 p.m.
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"It will be good to get back on the floor," Fury said. "We were a little disappointed tonight, so it will be good to get back on the floor. We played pretty hard, we just couldn't close it."
MW 44 27 -- 71
USF JV 44 38 -- 82
MW (3FG-2FG-FT-TP) Thier 2-2-1-11, VanderVeen 2-0-0-6, Smith 0-6-3-15, Lynn 1-2-1-8, Drooger 4-4-0-20, Wik 0-0-2-2, Schroeder 1-0-2-5, Christensen 0-2-0-4. Totals 10-16-9-71.
USF JV (3FG-2FG-FT-TP) Hofer 2-3-3-15, Burkett 0-0-2-2, Zimprich 3-5-2-21, Fife 0-2-0-4, Slaba 0-2-1-5, Bones 0-1-3-5, Overweg 0-3-1-7, Olsen 1-5-5-18, Mann 0-0-5-5. Totals 6-21-22-82.
