The men’s basketball team brought home two road wins. The Gorillas defeated Northeastern State on Thursday, Jan. 28 (68-62) and then Rogers State on Saturday, Jan. 20 (86-75).  

Head Coach Kim Anderson was pleased with the team’s performance on the court.   

“I thought we did really well,” Anderson said. “We were able to go on the road and win two games which is always tough in the MIAA, so I was really proud of our guys. We played pretty well against Northeastern, got off to a 14-point halftime lead and then… Rogers State was a team that had beaten us earlier this year and we did a good job especially in the second half. I thought our defense was pretty good in both games and we shot the ball fairly well.”  

Several players stood out to Anderson during both games.  

“Well, (in) the Northeastern game, Zach Burch had 17 points and eight rebounds and really did a good job on the inside. We had five other people that had between seven and nine points. So, we didn’t score a lot of points but… our scoring was spread, and our guys did a good job of sharing the basketball. Against Rogers State, Cameron Huefner, our freshman from Australia, came off the bench and scored 19 points and really gave us a big boost. He had a stretch in the second half where he scored six or eight points in a row in a time where we were kind of struggling. Antonio Givens had 16 points and shot the ball extremely well… Martin Vogts had 13 and Ryan Pippins had ten. We really did a good job of taking care of the basketball, we didn’t turn it over a lot. I thought that was a big key to our game and being able to beat them.” 

The Gorillas have two home games coming up. They will battle Central Missouri on Thursday, Feb. 4 at 7:30 p.m. After that, the team will go head-to-head with Lincoln on Saturday, Feb. 6 at 3:30 p.m. Both games will be played in John Lance Arena’s Whetzel Court.  

“Well, again two teams that beat us earlier in the year at their respective places. So, I’m hoping that we’ll continue to play well. We’ve played pretty well; we’ve won three games on a row. So, I’m hoping that going into Central Missouri we’ll do a good job. They’ll probably mix their defenses up a little bit, so we’ll have to be prepared for different types of defensives. Lincoln beat us earlier at their places and they’re a very athletic team. They’ll play probably a little faster than most teams. So, we’ll have to do a good job of defensive transition.” 

The men’s basketball team’s overall record is currently 8-7.