Gabriel Jordan topped 20 points for the first time in his MNU career and
Justin Randall flirted with a triple double as the Pioneers beat Graceland 101-86 on Saturday. MNU honored
Nate Launius,
Tate Jackson, and
Matt Pruitt on Senior Day, and Jackson and Pruitt took advantage of their starts right away. Jackson opened the scoring with the first points of his career, a 3-pointer from the top of the key. Pruitt hit the second 3-pointer of his career two minutes later, and MNU had the early lead. After 9 minutes of play Graceland held a 1-point lead, but the Pioneers went on a 19-5 run to take a double-digit advantage. MNU controlled the game and kept the big lead until Graceland went on a 16-6 run over 5 minutes to get the deficit down to 11. But the final minutes belonged to the Pioneers and MNU won by 15.
Gabriel Jordan recorded a season-high 21 points and 8 rebounds.
Jordan Whelan had 18 points and 5 rebounds off the bench.
Nate Launius had 16 points, 7 assists, and 2 steals.
Cale Brubaker was 4-4 from beyond the arc for 12 points and 2 steals.
Hudson Welty shot 5-6 for 12 points and 7 rebounds. And
Justin Randall stuffed the stat sheet with 9 points, a career-high 14 rebounds, a career-high 8 assists, and 4 blocks.
MNU finished the regular season 11-16 overall, 10-8 HAAC. MNU is the 6-seed in the HAAC Post Season Tournament and will face 3-seed Missouri Valley in Marshall on Thursday at 7:00. The winner of the tournament receives the HAAC's 3rd bid to Nationals (Evangel and Benedictine have claimed the first 2 spots).
Â
