Matthew Stilwill poured in a career high 21 points as the Charger men’s basketball team avenged an earlier season loss to Dordt Saturday night. BC downed the Defenders 70-68 and have now won seven straight games.
“I thought our guys continued to play with a lot of toughness tonight in a game where we didn’t execute offensively all that well,” said head coach Mark Svagera. “We made a couple huge plays late and then got just enough stops to get out of there with a win.”
The Chargers led 9-7 at the 14-minute mark when Stilwill first checked into the contest. He made his presence felt immediately with nine straight points to take an 18-11 edge. Quinten Vasa knocked down a trey and BC grabbed their first double-digit lead of the night with 8:16 left in the half.
The Chargers held a six-to-10-point lead until the three-minute mark, when Dordt cut the BC lead to four with a 6-0 run. Vasa hit his second triple of the half but was answered by a Cade Bleeker trey with just seconds remaining in the half. BC held a 35-33 lead at the break.
Dordt opened the second half outscoring the Chargers 12-4 in the first four minutes to take a 45-39 edge. Stilwil would jump start a 14-3 Charger run with seven straight points, followed by five straight from Nick Hoyt. Boerhave capped off the run with a fastbreak bucket and the Cliff lead 53-48 at the midway point of the half.
Dordt regained the lead with just under eight minutes left in the contest and held a 64-58 lead with 4:43 remaining. A Stilwill trey opened a 10-0 BC run as they took a four-point advantage with a minute left.
Dordt’s Luke Rankin made a layup with nine seconds left, and after a Charger turnover the Defenders had a chance to tie the game. Rankin drove with seconds remaining, but Vasa came away with a steal to secure the Charger’s sixth GPAC road win of the season.
Stilwill and Hoyt powered the Charger attack in the second half as they combined for 21 points on 8-for-9 shooting with two 3-pointers.
“I’m really proud of the way our guys played tonight,” said Svagera. “Stilwilll had a great game for us, he sparked our offense and was really good throughout for us.”
Stilwill connected on 8-of-10 field goal attempts on his way to a game high 21 points to go with four rebounds, one block and one steal. Boerhave added 15 points and three boards on 5-for-9 shooting. Vasa contributed 11 points and grabbed nine boards.
The Cliff shot 54.2% from the field and 38.9% from deep, compared to Dordt’s 41.4% shooting and 32.0% from the 3-point line. The Charger bench outscored Dordt’s 30-8 and BC had more points in the paint 28-26.
Jackson Louscher paced Dordt with 16 points and six rebounds. Bryce Coppock added 15 points and Rankin had 13 points.
The Chargers improved to 13-6 overall and are 9-2 in GPAC play. They return to the Newman Flanagan Center Wednesday night to host Northwestern with tip-off set for 7:45 p.m.
The Charger women’s basketball team fell 69-51 against Dordt in Sioux Center, IA Saturday. Facing a 13-point deficit at halftime, the Cliff were unable to rally and mount a comeback.
“With three of our usual five starters out tonight, it was an opportunity to get some of our other players more playing time,” said head coach Brita Hand. “After we settled in we were able to make a couple of runs and started to produce more offensively.”
Cadence Davis started the game strong with seven points in the first quarter on 3-for-4 shooting. The Cliff shot just 31% from the field in the opening half, as they trailed 35-22 at the half.
Mya Hendry led the Chargers in scoring in the third quarter with seven, with three points from the charity stripe. Teagen Slaughter and Rachel Langel combined to chip in 12 points off the bench in the fourth quarter. The Chargers outscored Dordt 16-9 in the final period.
Davis and Hendry both finished with nine points each, while Kaegan Held added eight off the bench. Hendry led the team in rebounds with six, followed by Langel’s five.
The Defenders were led by Karly Gustafson’s double-double as she scored 18 points and had 11 rebounds. Hayden Heimensen added 11 points and seven rebounds.
“I thought our team did good considering we had players playing positions they don’t normally play,” said Hand. “We also had players that got opportunities to play against a very good GPAC team on the road. We gave up too many offensive rebounds, leading to second change points for them. The experience some of our players got tonight will help us down the stretch as we finish off GPAC play.”
Dordt out-rebounded the Cliff 54-33, and outscored the Chargers in the paint 34-26. BC had more bench points 29-15 and points off turnovers 17-7.
The Chargers fall to 11-7 (8-4 GPAC), snapping a three-game winning streak. They will look to rebound against Northwestern Wednesday at the Newman Flanagan Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.
