Blue Hawk men upset Waldorf to advance in NSAA tournament

Forest City, Iowa – Kose Egbule scored 19 points and pulled down six rebounds, and all ten Blue Hawks found the scoring column, as Dickinson State upset third-seeded Waldorf, 77-67, on the road to advance to the North Star Athletic Association Tournament Semifinals.

After falling behind 4-0 early, DSU responded with a 5-0 run in just 19 seconds to take a 5-4 lead and never trailed again. Waldorf was able to tie the game at 5-5 with a free throw with 16:51 left in the first half, but Trey Stevens (16 points) responded with a three 18 seconds later to give DSU the lead for good.

The Blue Hawks controlled the flow of the game for most of the night, never letting the Warriors get within true striking distance. DSU's largest lead of the game came at the 13:39 mark of the second half when they led by 14, but they remained calm and collected all 40 minutes.

"What an incredible effort by our guys," said head coach Derek Selvig. "We have played through so much adversity this year, we have guys playing hurt right now, and to travel this far and play that well, I'm just very impressed. This group is a lot of fun to be a part of."

Usually a team that lets it fly from deep, DSU attempted only 17 three-pointers on Wednesday, and connected on six, their third fewest attempts on the season and their fewest against a team not named Bellevue.

Cordell Stinson chipped in 12 points for the Blue Hawks and added six rebounds in 34 minutes, while John Evans was held to just 7 points on 3-6 shooting. Aidan Fishell led the DSU bench with six points after going a perfect 4-4 from the free throw line.

Despite losing the rebounding battle 33-30, the Blue Hawks turned the ball over just six times, preventing Waldorf from gaining any extra possessions.

DSU will now turn their attention to second-seeded Mayville State for the NSAA Tournament Semi's. Last season the Blue Hawks and Comets battled in the NSAA title game with MSU coming up with an 80-63 win in Watertown, S.D. This year the teams will battle in Mayville after splitting the regular season series.