Mannel's Career Night Not Enough as Waldorf Wins Opening Round

LA CROSSE, Wis. – The Viterbo University Men's Basketball team, holding the No. 2 seed in the North Star Athletic Association Conference Tournament, hosting Waldorf University (Iowa) in the opening round on Tuesday night. The V-Hawks lost to the Warriors 62-72, finishing the season with a 15-13 record. Waldorf advances to the Final Four in Watertown, SD to take on Dickinson State University (ND).

Noah Miller started the game with a three for the Warriors, and Ben Olson would respond quickly with a Dakota Mannel-assisted layup. Colin Adams hit a three at 13:32, then assisted a Mannel layup, but the Warriors unleashed a barrage of threes to go up 13-30 at 9:28. Luke Spink hit a three of his own at 7:48, and Miller hit another triple at 4:35, but the V-Hawks would hold them scoreless for the remainder of the period as buckets from Mannel, Cole Crubel, and Keegan Severn brought the score to 26-43.

Jack Monis would start the second half by converting an and-one, and Mannel's steal led to an and-one of his own. A pair of Monis layups followed by a Crubel three brought the game within 10, and Severn's free throws made it 51-57 at 9:36. Olson converted another layup, and Mannel's free throws made it a five point game. He followed that up with a three at 4:11 to bring the game to 62-65, but the V-Hawks would get no closer, as they were forced down the stretch and Waldorf would win 62-72.

The teams shot almost identical percentages from the floor (40%-41%), and while the V-Hawks had a better percentage from three (33%-31%), the Warriors hit eight more shots from deep.

Mannel led all players with a career high 24 points, to go with six assists and four steals, and Monis added 15 points and five rebounds. Tyree'on Johnson led the Warriors with a near triple-double of 10 points, 12 rebounds, and nine blocks.

The V-Hawks second place finish in conference was their second-best finish in the past 13 years. Robert Cunitz ends his career with 1,408 points, the 12^th most in Viterbo history, and Jack Monis moves into the top-ten in career scoring with 1,472.