The University of Sioux Falls men's basketball team can claim the Great Plains Athletic Conference Tournament Championship for the second time out of the last three seasons with a 91-77 win over Dordt College (19-12) in front of a lively crowd at the Stewart Center tonight.
Freshman
Keith Cutler (Platte, S.D.) had a break-out night with a career-best and team-leading 19 points and six rebounds with two steals. Sophomore
David Maxwell (Parkston, S.D.) added 18 points while senior
Ronnell Grant (Tucson, Ariz.) had 17 points with four assists.
After the teams kept an even exchange of points during the opening 10 minutes, the Cougars found themselves down 20-19 with 8:42 left in the half. Freshman
Derek Brown (Clark, S.D.) hit two three point shots on consecutive possessions to spark a 9-0 run that put USF up 28-20 with 4:50 remaining in the half. USF would not trail the rest of the contest.
The Defenders bounced their way back into the game with six straight points, but the Cougars once again banked in a three point shot, this time by Cutler, to make the score 33-26 with two minutes still left in the half. In the final minute of the half Defender Trevor Wolterstorff made two jumpers to USF's
Kelly Hubbard's (Carson, Calif.) jumper, making the score 35-30 at the break. Hubbard had 12 points and a team-leading seven rebounds tonight.
The Cougars carried the tempo from the first half into the second period and with two free throws by Grant in the 15th minute, USF had their first double-digit lead of the night at 49-39.
Cutler added several more three point shots down the stretch as part of USF's answer to any attempt to shift the momentum by the Defenders. Cutler finished five of seven in three point land tonight and USF earned the 91-77 win in the GPAC Championship game.
The Defenders shot slightly better than USF tonight, 53.7% to 48.5%, but the Cougar's six turnovers were almost a third to Dordt's 17. Additionally, USF shot 60.6% from the floor in the second half and made half of their three point attempts to push USF's lead to a insurmountable amount as six individual Cougars had double-digit points tonight.
USF will learn of their first round opponent for the NAIA National Tournament held in Branson, Mo. tomorrow afternoon at 6:30 p.m.
