Well ... that was ugly

First I will start off be apologizing for sounding like someone ran over my dog last night during the BCU men's game but I am not afraid to relay my emotions to the listening audience. Growing up a Briar Cliff fan I have grown quite passionate about the Chargers and view my position as play by play guy as an honor. With that said...some losses hurt me too.

Last night was one of those games. Coming off the loss at Concordia on Saturday I felt like Wednesday's game would be a great bounce back for BCU. Unfortunately the only bounce was in the step of Dakota Wesleyan. DWU is a very good team. They were picked to win the conference. One could argue that their four of their five starters could start at just about NAIA school in America but no one is supposed to come into the Flanagan center and smack our Chargers.

From the opening tip off you could easily see that the Tigers were prepared and ready to play. They chased down lose balls, rebounded hard and really attacked the basket. Defensively the game plan was executed well. Briar Cliff scored just 21 points for the first nineteen minutes before Kyle Semprini hit two late threes to pull the Chargers within four at the half 31-27. As Semprini was trying to fire up his team the Chargers struggled to push themselves to his intensity level.

The second half didn't get any better really; as DWU scored it seemed at will using their speed, and ball movement to find the open shot. Chase Vander Feen was held to just 2 points, and Kyle Swanson struggled again. After he picked up his third foul in the middle of the first half and went to the bench he was pretty much out of the game at that point. Sharp passing was non existent last night as was movement without the ball, something Briar Cliff usually is very good at. When the clock finally expired Dakota Wesleyan won 77-58 but the game was never really close sad to say.

Now comes gut check time. The next three games are on the road. At Nebraska Wesleyan Saturday then next week BCU travels to Dordt on Wednesday and Hastings next Saturday. Winning all of those games will be a big task. Dordt defends their home floor very well and takes advantage of the other teams mistakes...Hastings has probably been waiting for another chance at BCU since December when Briar Cliff erased a 20 point Bronco lead and won 82-77. After the three road games Briar Cliff will be back home for three against Sioux Falls, Doane, and Morningside before finishing the season at Midland Lutheran.

Not a ton was lost last night. Winning games moving forward will be huge and with a strong finish BCU can still finish in the top 4 in the GPAC, get a first round bye, and host at least a game at the NFC. This Briar Cliff teams belongs in the national tournament and with a handful more wins that's where they will be but the challenge to get there continues Saturday and I am sure a determined team will be getting off the bus in Lincoln. I will be there to tell you all about it ... hopefully with a happy tone.

Go Chargers.