The #7 ranked Grand View Vikings (11-3, 1-1 MCC) travelled to Oskaloosa to play the #24 ranked William Penn Statesmen (11-3, 2-0 MCC) on Saturday afternoon. A poor shooting night from behind the three-point line and a tremendous second half of shooting from the Statesmen proved to be too much for a resilient Vikings team to overcome. Despite holding a two-point second half lead, the Statesmen's Kris Miller completed a three-point play with less than eight minutes remaining to put William Penn ahead for good.
The Vikings forced the Statesmen in 24 turnovers, while only turning the ball over 12 times. Grand View held a 31-17 edge in points off turnovers. But they were not able to overcome an afternoon where they only shot 39% from the field and 15% from behind the arc in the second half.
Senior All-American Corey Viet proved he is one of the premiere players in the NAIA with a 30 point and 8 rebound effort in the loss. Down the stretch the Vikings went to Viet countless times and William Penn did not have an answer for him on the low block. Viet ended up shooting 9 of 13 from the field.
Helping Viet in the low post was sophomore Kevin Smith. Smith finished with 17 points on 12 shots before leaving the game early with an injury. Reserve post Joey Terpstra put together a big effort off the bench, grabbing 7 rebounds and scoring 7 points. Senior Greg Schulz contributed 14 points, including a team-high two three-pointers.
The Vikings will not be action again until December 15th when they play host to nationally ranked Briar Cliff University.
