KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Led by top-10 and season-best performances from juniors Brenden Bassing and JJ Cooney, the University of Sioux Falls Men's Golf Team carded a season-best two-round total of 594 (299-295) and finished fourth at the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Preview Meet which concluded Saturday (April 6) at Shoal Creek Golf Course.

For the first time in a year and half, the Cougars shot back-to-back sub-300 rounds and had their best score since a 587 (293-294) at the Bemidji State Invite on Sept. 11-12, 2017. In fact, dating back to the final round of the Upper Iowa Invite last weekend, USF has had three straight sub-300 rounds, which has never previously been accomplished by a USF Men's Golf Team in the program's DII era.

The 594 shot by USF bettered the previous two-round total this year by 11 shots at the BSU Invite (605-294-311) on Sept. 9-10 and first two rounds of the Lindenwood Invite (299-305-306-910) on March 25-26. USF's 594 is also the fourth best two-round total in the program's DII history.

USF, which had four golfers finish in the top 30, finished second overall among the NSIC teams at the tournament. With their 26-over par total of 594, USF, which started the day tied for sixth in the team standings, finished only behind Winona State among NSIC schools. Washburn (MIAA) finished at the top of the team standings at five-over par 573 (288-285) with Winona State, second at a nine-over par 577 (280-297). Iowa Western was third at 22 over par 590 (292-298) followed by USF. A total of 18 teams and more than 150 golfers competed at the meet this weekend.

Bassing, a junior from Sioux Falls, S.D., finished in a tie for sixth after starting the day in a tie for 18th which was a jump of 12 spots on the leader board. Bassing finished with the second best two-round total of his career at 144 (73-68-141, BSU Invite, Sept. 11-12, 2-17) with round of 74-70. On Saturday, he shot one-under par 70 to finish at two-over par.

Cooney, a junior from Pickstown, S.D., finished in a tie for 10^th after rounds of 70-75 for a three over par 145. As a result, Cooney also had a career-high two round total, which matched his 145 (71-74) at the BSU Invite on Sept. 11-12, 2017. Cooney, a two-time All-NSIC selection, opened the tourney by tying his best round of the season (Missouri Southern Invite, 3^rd round, Sept. 25) and then finished at 75.

"The guys had a strong finish today as they jumped past a few NSIC teams to finish second in our conference, which was huge for our team," said USF Director of Men's and Women's Golf Sam Vosler, whose team will be back at the Shoal Creek Golf Course in Kansas City., Mo., on April 18-20 for the NSIC Championships. "It is great momentum for the conference in a couple of weeks. We got a nice look at the track and we feel we we have a good game plan for the conference (meet). As for Bass(ing), he had one of the better ball striking 36-hole tournaments of the year. He and JJ (Cooney) led a strong change and put us in position to finish where we did," said Vosler.

Playing an an individual, sophomore Jake Oetzmann finished tied for 25^th overall with a two-round total of eight-over par 150 after consistent rounds of 75 and 75. Sophomore Jacob Zosel was tied for 27^th after carding a nine-over par 151 with rounds of 78 and 73. In addition, USF freshman Jack Evans finished tied for 66^th after carding a 17-over par 159 with rounds of 77 and 82. Also junior Blake Berry finished tied for 80^th, jumping 13 spots from day one to the final round. He carded a two-round total of 163 with rounds of 86 and 77.

Aside from Oetzmann, both freshman Nathan Woodall and Hank Eggebraaten also played as individuals and both players finished strong. Woodall jumped from 82nd and into a tie for 59^th, a jump of 23 spots. Woodall followed up his opening round of 83 by shooting a career-best round of 75 and finishing 16 over par at 158. Eggebraaten moved up five spots to finish at 88^th with a 25-over par two of 167. He opened at 86 and closed with an 81.