Hastings College Men Knock Off #13 Northwestern

The Hastings College men’s basketball team picked up a huge upset victory by erasing an early 16 point deficit to defeat No. 13 Northwestern 78-74 on Saturday evening inside Lynn Farrell Arena.

The Broncos have been getting off to slow starts at home and Saturday was no different as the Red Raiders opened up a quick 18-2 lead as HC had to call two early timeouts to try and slow the momentum.

The Broncos then chipped away at that lead and eventually got to within one before NWIC built the lead back to nine at 40-31. Anthony Thompson then drained a 30-foot three right before the halftime buzzer as the Broncos trailed by six at 40-34 at halftime.

It didn’t take long for Hastings to tie things up to start the second half as Thompson got things going with a three and then Danilo Matovic scored inside to make it 40-39. A free throw from Tyrique McMurrin tied things 40-40 and it was game on.

The teams continued to go back-and-forth until the Red Raiders opened up a 61-54 lead when Disson Carlson made a three with 12:34 to go. After a timeout, Grady Corrigan came off a screen and buried a long jumper. Then Yohan-Steve Yebga called for the ball at the block and then went to work for his first two points to make it 61-58 with 11:31 left to play.

Hastings hung around and eventually tied the game at 69 when Thompson drained another three with 6:00 to go. After a defensive stop, Reggie Thomas got into the lane making the tough layup as HC was back on top 71-69.

Hastings then clung to a 72-71 lead when both teams saw three pointers go in and out on consecutive possessions followed by a critical turnover by Alex Van Kalsbeek getting called for traveling and Hastings had a chance to add to its one point lead with under 3:00 to go.

McMurrin would get the ball in the corner and worked his way across the lane and got the layup to go in off the glass as Hastings now led 74-71 with 2:17 left to play.

Carlson had a quick answer with a three for the Red Raiders to tie things at 74 but then the teams traded missed threes as HC got the ball back. Thomas would miss a three but McMurrin worked his way around his defender and would get the put back to go as HC now led 76-74 with :32 to go as the Red Raiders called a timeout. 

Van Kalsbeek then tried to go to work down low against Matovic but he would lose the ball out of bounds as Hastings had the ball back with :21 to go. Thompson would get fouled and calmly knock both free throws down to give the Broncos the 78-74 lead. Carlson came down and put up a three but it rattled out and Hastings was able to run out the clock to complete the upset 78-74.

Thomas led the way with a game high 30 points on 10-of-17 shooting while dishing out seven assists and had a career high five steals. Thompson finished with 11 points and was 3-for-4 from behind the arc. McMurrin finished with 10 points but he had three huge put backs after getting offensive rebounds in key moments in the second half. Quinn Johnson finished with eight points off the bench while Corrigan added seven.

Hastings finished the game shooting 50.9 percent (28-for-55) while Northwestern shot 49.1 percent (28-for-57). Northwestern was 10-for-27 from deep while HC was 9-of-27. Rebounds favored Hastings 34-to-26 and the Broncos also scored 21 points off turnovers compared to just 10 for the Red Raiders. There were three lead changes and seven ties in the game.

Hastings improves to 8-2 (5-0) on the year and will be back in action Saturday Dec. 9 hitting the road to take on Dordt with tipoff set for 3:45 pm inside DeWitt Gymnasium in Sioux Center, IA.