(KWMN)- Olumide Adelodun scores a career-high 31, Connor Dillon pours in 25 of his own, as the Warriors trail only once en route to a dominating victory over Northern, 95-65, to advance to the NSIC tournament quarterfinals.
The Warriors got help from Connor Drew and Brock Voigt who both finished with 8 points, and Jordan Wilkins came off the bench to score 10.
“Really pleased with the way we played tonight. I thought Connor and Olumide were pretty special offensively. We did a great job defensively on [Jackson] Moni, which was key after the big game he had [against us] in Aberdeen,” Head coach of the Warriors, Todd Eisner said after the game.
Northern started the game with a quick five points–later proving to be their best moment of the 40 minutes– But the Warriors answered with a 17-2 run, and eventually led at the break 42-29.
The real turning point in the night came early in the second half, when Adelodun erupted for 13 straight points, including two triples, all of which coming in consecutive possessions. Adelodun had 18 second half points just eight minutes into the half and as a team, it felt like the Warriors didn’t miss up to that point. Northern was able to stay in the game briefly, but once a cold spell came, it was over for the Wolves.
Brock Voigt capped off the victory with an exclamation mark and an emphatic slam at the four minute mark to make it a 28-point ball game, signaling for Eisner and the staff to send in the reserves.
Although a career night, Adelodun kept his eyes ahead,
“I just wanted to get the W, do I what I can to help the team. Ended up getting 30–we got the W, that’s all that matters to me, man,” he said afterwards.
Adelodun and Dillon traded right hooks in the second half to grow the Warrior lead. Dillon, who said after the game, “I know there’s a lot of nerves for the first one and we’re happy to get the win. Now we’re all locked in for the pentagon,” played second fiddle for one of only a few times on the season. Something he has no problem doing regardless of his stellar season.
Dillon is second in the conference with 21.5 points a game–surpassing that mark tonight. Now with Adelodun fully healthy, he’s figured a way to be even more efficient than he was before, yet still producing at a high level and the Warrior offense has weapons across the board.
The Warriors will move onto the Pentagon portion of the conference tournament that consists of the quarterfinals onwards. They’ll face the #3 seed, and #9 team in the country in the Minnesota State-Moorhead Dragons. WSU beat Moorhead once already this season, 83-72 back on January 26th in McCown. Dillon scored 27 that night.
Eisner said of the impending Sunday matchup in Sioux Falls, “We have three days of practice to get ready for a top 10 team in the country in MSUM,” and Dillon kept the same tune, “Moorhead’s a really good team and we got to go out and play our basketball. And we should be good.”
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