By Adrian Dougherty

Photos by Nick Buth: Eddie Marrs, Mitch Carstens, Cory Gaston

With a few inconsistent performances, the men’s team is struggling to stay above .500 overall. Morningside has dropped two of their last three outings, with their only win coming in a major defeat over Peru State, 73-56 last Saturday.

However, last Friday the Mustangs dropped an 81-78 decision against York College in the Peru State College Classic that was held in Peru, NE. The Mustangs had a hefty 43-28 lead going into half time, but the men had a rocky second half and let their lead fall.

Mitch Carstens led the Mustangs with 16 points and Eddie Marrs was close behind with 14. Cory Gaston was the only other Mustang in double figures with 10. Garth Hamilton grabbed a game-high eight rebounds, but York prevailed on the boards with a 34-28 advantage. Despite the loss, Morningside shot nicely from the field at 51.7 percent.

On Saturday the men rebounded against Peru State, and Carstens had another impressive game, finishing with 23 points and a game-high four steals. Gaston was second in scoring with 13, followed by Adam Palmer with 12, and Marrs with 11 points.

Palmer notched a career-high 13 rebounds to help edge the Mustangs with a 28-24 advantage on the boards. Morningside shot 53.6 percent from the field.

However, the glory was short-lived as the University of Sioux Falls claimed a 65-51 win over the Mustangs last night in the RVSC.

The Mustangs finished with a 37.3 percent shooting performance from the field, and the 17th ranked Cougars capitalized on that.

Morningside led by two, 25-23, going into intermission, but could not connect in second half shooting, making only 32.0 percent of field goal attempts. The Cougars finished with a convincing 42-21 advantage on the boards, and the Mustangs made just 50.0 percent (10-for-20) shooting from the foul line.

The Mustangs travel to Sioux Center this weekend to take on Dordt College at 4 p.m.
The Defenders are coming off a 77-97 loss to Northwestern and are currently 7-2 overall. The Mustangs edge the Defenders in the all-time series, 7-6, with at least one win per season since 2004.

The last time Morningside lost to Dordt was in the 2006-2007 season, 91-83. (Dec. 3)