Men fall short in GPAC finals

Zach Meyer
Sports Editor
Mar. 4, 2004, Page 8

The men’s Tiger basketball team fell 17 points short of an NAIA national tournament berth Tuesday night in Sioux Falls, S. D.
The Tigers lost to the Sioux Falls University Cougars 80-63 in the Great Plains Athletic Conference tournament championship.
The winner of the matchup received an automatic bid to the national tournament in Branson, Mo.
The Tigers more or less became the Cinderella team of the eight team tournament after defeating the Northwestern Red Raiders 71-64 Friday in Orange City, Iowa.
The Red Raiders were not only the top seed in the tournament, but are also nationally rated and are coming off of a national championship season.
The Tigers had defeated Sioux Falls earlier this season in Crete, but Sioux Falls had different ideas for their home court.
The Tigers hung with the Cougars through the first half. They were down by nine at halftime, 36-27.
They could only manage to get within six in the second half, however. Cougar senior forward Steve Essesling had an impressive night against the Tigers. Esselink scored 28 points while shooting 11-15 from the field.
Three other Cougars scored in double figures and senior center J. D. Roberts hauled in 11 rebounds and blocked four shots.
Senior Brian Jakubowski led the Tigers with 24 points and six rebounds. Jakubowski, who has been hot from the three point line recently, managed to shoot 1-7 from behind the arc.
Senior Bryshonne Bryant tried to make up for it, shooting 4-7 from the three point line.
Bryant was able to rack up 16 points on the night and was the only other Tiger to score in double figures.
It was a balanced team attack that helped the Tigers upset the Red Raiders on their home court.
Five Tigers scored in double figures and junior Adam Schueth had a double-double scoring 10 points and bringing down 11 rebounds.
Freshman Brent Cole led all scorers with 16 points and shot 6-8 from the free throw line.
Bryant had 13 points, Jakubowski had 12 and freshman Michael Stoynev finished with 10 points.
The Tigers finished their season with a 17-14 overall record.
More impressively, the Tigers finished the GPAC regular season in fourth place with an 11-6 record and earned second place in the GPAC tournament.
The Tigers will return three players who earned GPAC honors which were announced Wednesday.
Schueth and sophomore Jarred Royal both earned honorable mention on the All-GPAC men’s basketball team.
Stoynev was recognized as the GPAC freshman player of the year.
Two graduating seniors also grabbed honors. Jakubowski earned first team honors and Bryant was also given honorable mention honors.
Three members of the women’s team also earned conference recognition.
Senior Andrea Swanson was named first team all-GPAC.
Seniors Amanda Hanzlik and Kate Reeson were given honorable mention honors.