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Records Fall In Banner 2007-08 Campaign
Three Mustangs Are NAIA Scholar-Athletes
Rother A Second-Team All-American
Mustangs Bow Out Of National Tourney After Overtime Loss
Mustangs Advance To Second Round After Win Against Indiana Tech
Mustangs Place Two On All-GPAC First-Team; Sykes Named Coach Of The Year
Cory Gaston To Join Mustangs In 2008-09
Rother Named To Academic All-District First-Team
Rother Is GPAC Player Of The Week
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Jack Rother |
Seth Atkins |
Jack Rother, a 6-3 senior guard from Wolbach, Neb., received Morningside College’s Most Valuable Player award when the Mustangs’ men’s basketball team recently held its post-season awards banquet.
Rother was the Mustangs’ leading scorer during the 2008-08 season with an average of 13.5 points per game. He averaged 3.8 rebounds per game and dealt 72 assists for a norm of 2.2 per game. Rother also received the Mustangs’ Defensive Player of the Year award after he led the team with 55 steals.
Seth Atkins, a 6-6 junior center from Grand Island, Neb., received the Mustangs’ Most Improved Player award. Atkins averaged 12.6 points and a team-high 6.2 rebounds per game and drilled 142 of 262 field goal attempts for 54.2 percent this past season.
Morningside posted a 29-4 record and was ranked No. 1 in the nation in the NAIA Division II ranks for most of the 2007-08 campaign. The Mustangs won the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) championship with a 16-2 league mark and made their second NAIA Division II National Tournament appearance in the last three years.
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Jack Rother |
Shane Michael |
Morningside College’s men’s basketball team enjoyed one of its greatest seasons in school history during the 2007-08 campaign.
The Mustangs broke 10 school records and tied another on their way to a 29-4 finish. Morningside was ranked No. 1 in the nation in the NAIA Division II ranks for much of the season, won the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) championship outright with a 16-2 league record, and reached the second round of the NAIA Division II National Tournament.
The 29 victories broke the previous Morningside single-season record of 28 wins in the 2005-06 campaign. The Mustangs’ .879 winning percentage was also a school record to top the former victory rate of .813 when Morningside posted a 26-6 record in 1982-83.
The Mustangs opened the season by winning their first 23 games to shatter the college’s previous record of 16 consecutive victories during a winning streak that stretched from Feb. 6, 1999, to Jan. 2, 2000. The 23-game winning streak included a streak of 14 consecutive wins away from home to break the college’s former road winning streak standard of eight consecutive triumphs from Feb. 6, 1999, to Dec. 19, 1999.
Morningside opened the season with a 71-point victory in a 111-40 romp against Nebraska Christian College for its most lopsided triumph in school history to top a 65-point margin in a 104-39 victory against South Dakota Wesleyan during the 1951-52 season. The Mustangs had 27 steals against Nebraska Christian to break their former single-game standard of 21 steals against Midland Lutheran College on Dec. 11, 2004, and tied a single-game record with 45 field goals.
Outstanding play at the defensive end of the floor was one of the biggest factors in the Mustangs’ success. The Mustangs held their opposition to a scoring average of 67.4 points per game to shatter the college’s former defensive scoring average record of 70.9 points per game in 1985-86.
Jack Rother, a 6-3 senior guard from Wolbach, Neb., set individual career records with 131 games played and 185 steals to break the former Morningside career marks of 127 games by 2006 seniors Tom Regan and Brad Schmit and 161 steals by 2005 senior Eddie Ceaser.
Rother was the Mustangs’ leading scorer with an average of 13.5 points per game en route to second-team NAIA Division II All-America honors. He had the Mustangs’ top single-game scoring performance of the season with 25 points in an 83-76 win against Johnson & Wales University on Nov. 15. Aside from leading the Mustangs in scoring, Rother was also the team leader with 55 steals for an average of 1.7 per game.
Rother finished his career with 1,633 points for the third highest scoring total in Morningside history.
Shane Michael, a 6-2 senior guard from Sloan, Iowa, was also an individual record setter this season. Michael made a team-high 75 3-point field goals in 153 attempts for 49.0 percent to break the Mustangs’ previous single-season 3-point accuracy mark of 48.9 percent by Andrew Drevo in 2000-01.
Thomas Pargett, a 6-3 senior forward from Syracuse, Neb., went over the 1,000-point mark during the season and finished his career with 1,193 points for the 14th highest scoring total in Morningside history. Pargett was the Mustangs’ best free throw shooter this season with 56 free throws in 68 attempts for 82.4 percent.
Seth Atkins, a 6-6 junior center from Grand Island, Neb., led the Mustangs in rebounding with an average of 6.2 caroms per game and was the team’s second leading scorer at 12.6 ppg. Atkins raised his career total to 740 points to climb into 52nd place on Morningside’s all-time scoring list.
David Price, a 6-6 senior forward from Centerville, Iowa, led the team in field goal accuracy by drilling 94 of 153 attempts for 61.4 percent to become the Mustangs’ first player to shoot over 60 percent since Matt Schneiderman drilled 62.0 percent of his attempts during the 2001-02 season. Price’s best performance came in the Mustangs’ 77-56 win against Dana College on Feb. 28 when he was a perfect nine-for-nine from the field.
The Mustangs’ other individual leaders this season were Matt Johnson, a 6-1 senior guard from Council Bluffs, Iowa, with 86 assists for an average of 2.7 per game; and Nick Thompson, a 6-6 junior forward from Bettendorf, Iowa, with 10 blocked shots.
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Brady Helmink |
Lee Kubik |
Jack Rother |
Brady Helmink, Lee Kubik, and Jack Rother have been named Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athletes in the sport of men’s basketball.
Rother, a 6-3 senior guard from Wolbach, Neb., was also named to the 2008 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Third-Team. He has a 3.91 cumulative GPA and is majoring in business administration with an emphasis in management and finance. Rother, a second-team NAIA Division II All-American, was the Mustangs’ leading scorer with an average of 13.5 points per game as well as the team leader with 55 steals. He finished his career as the third leading scorer in Morningside history with 1,633 career points.
Helmink, a 6-2 junior guard from Fairbury, Neb., has a 3.89 cumulative grade point average (GPA) and is majoring in chemistry. Helmink averaged 5.8 points per game this past season.
Kubik, a 6-7 senior center from Thurston, Neb., has a 3.52 cumulative GPA and is majoring in accounting and in business administration with an emphasis in finance. Kubik averaged 2.8 points and 2.8 rebounds per game.
Student-athletes must be of at least junior status and have a minimum GPA of 3.50 in order to be eligible for Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athlete honors.
ESPN The Magazine Academic All-Americans must be of at least sophomore status and have a minimum GPA of 3.20.
The Mustangs posted a 29-4 record during the 2007-08 season to set a school record for wins in a season. Morningside was the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) regular season champion, was ranked No. 1 in the nation for much of the season, and reached the Sweet 16 at the NAIA Division II National Tournament.
Click here for the complete list of Daktronics-NAIA Men's Basketball Scholar-Athletes.
 Jack Rother, a 6-3 senior guard from Wolbach, Neb., has been named to the second-team of the 2008 NAIA Division II Men’s Basketball All-America Team.
Rother was the Mustangs’ leading scorer this season with an average of 13.5 points per game and had the team’s top individual scoring performance of the season with 25 points in an 83-76 victory against Johnson & Wales University on Nov. 15. He averaged 15.6 points per game over the Mustangs’ final 16 contests of the season.
Aside from his scoring exploits, Rother averaged 3.8 rebounds per game and led the Mustangs with 55 steals and ranked second on the team with 72 assists for averages of 1.7 steals and 2.2 assists per contest. Rother made 156 of 350 field goal attempts for 44.6 percent, 45 of 120 3-point field goal attempts for 37.5 percent, and 88 of 117 free throw attempts for 75.2 percent. He was named the 2008 GPAC Defensive Player of the Year.
Rother, a NAIA Division II honorable mention All-American last year, finished his career as the third leading scorer in Morningside history with 1,633 career points. He is Morningside’s all-time leader with 185 career steals. Rother averaged 12.5 points and 1.4 steals per game during his Morningside career.
Morningside, which was ranked No. 1 in the nation for much of the season, posted a 29-4 record and reached the second round of the NAIA Division II National Tournament. The Mustangs were the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) regular season champions with a league mark of 16-2. The Mustangs were ranked second nationally in the final NAIA II poll.
Click here for the complete 2008 NAIA Division II Men's Basketball All-America Team.
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Jack Rother |
Thomas Pargett |
Morningside saw one of its most successful men’s basketball seasons in school history end in the second round of the NAIA Division II National Tournament when the second-ranked Mustangs were upset 90-81 in overtime by Grace College on Friday night at Point Lookout, Mo.
The Mustangs finished with a 29-4 record for their most victories in school history.
Senior Jack Rother closed out his career by leading the Mustangs with 17 points, a career-high 11 rebounds, four assists, and two steals. He led all performers with his 11 rebounds and two blocked shots.
Thomas Pargett and Seth Atkins joined Rother in double figures with 16 and 14 points, respectively.
Marcus Moore scored 14 points in the second half to finish with a game-high 25 tallies. Kyle Johnson was right behind with 23 tallies.
The Mustangs shot just 41.3 percent in the contest, including a 38.2 percent showing in the first half when they fell behind 45-37 by the intermission.
Morningside led for much of the first half and took a five-point lead for its largest advantage of the game when an Atkins field goal put the Mustangs in front 30-25. However, Grace outscored the Mustangs 20-7 over the duration of the half en route to its eight-point advantage at the break.
Kyle Johnson scored 15 points and drilled six of eight first half shots to help lead Grace to a 52.9 percent shooting performance in the first half.
Morningside battled back to take a 55-54 lead early in the second half on a basket by Nick Thompson. The Mustangs also led 63-61 with 7:51 left in regulation after a basket by Atkins. Atkins later made both ends of a two-shot foul with 59 seconds left to tie the score at 72-72 before the contest went into overtime.
The Mustangs never led in the overtime session. They tied the score at 74 and 76 before Grace went ahead to stay, 79-76, on a three-point play by Austin Kaiser with 2:20 left. Kaiser’s three-point play triggered a nine-point run that gave Grace an insurmountable 85-76 lead.
Box Score
Morningside trailed for much of the game, but played like a champion down the stretch when it advanced to the second round of the NAIA Division II Men’s Basketball National Tournament with an opening round 73-67 triumph against Indiana Institute of Technology on Thursday at Point Lookout, Mo.
The Mustangs, champions of the GPAC and ranked second in the nation, will take a 29-3 record into a second round game against Grace College on Friday at 5:45 p.m.
Indiana Tech was unranked, but the Warriors entered the game as one of the hottest teams in the field with a 10-game winning streak. Indiana Tech received a huge performance from Anthony Jones, who scored a game-high 21 points, and led for most of the game.
Jones was the Warriors’ only double figure scorer. Morningside had three players score in double figures and two other players finish with nine tallies. Jack Rother led the Mustangs with 18 points, with 10 of them coming during the last seven minutes of the first half. Seth Atkins and David Price went for 12 and 11 points, respectively, and Thomas Pargett and Shane Michael each finished with nine.
Pargett grabbed a game-high seven rebounds, followed by Price and Rother with six each to help the Mustangs control the boards by a 44-30 margin.
Pargett added a game-high four steals, while Greg Nelson came off the bench and dealt a game-high four assists.
Seth Atkins made the Mustangs’ first three baskets of the game to shoot the Mustangs to an early 6-2 advantage. But the Warriors led for most of the rest of the half after they went on a 17-9 run to turn a 10-9 deficit into a 26-19 advantage for their biggest lead of the game.
The Warriors led 36-35 at the intermission and opened a six-point lead, 47-41, on a Jones 3-pointer for their biggest lead of the second half.
Matt Johnson, the Mustangs’ starting point guard, had to sit out much of the game due to foul trouble, but he made one of the Mustangs’ biggest baskets of the game. He put the Mustangs in front to stay, 61-58, with a 3-pointer with just over four minutes left to break a 58-58 tie. The Mustangs outscored Indiana Tech 15-9 down the stretch and iced the game by making five of their final six free throw attempts. Morningside made 20 of 25 free throw attempts for the game, including a 14-for-16 performance in the second half.
Box Score
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Jack Rother |
Thomas Pargett |
Jack Rother, a 6-3 senior guard from Wolbach, Neb., and Thomas Pargett, a 6-3 senior forward from Syracuse, Neb., were each named to the All-Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) Men’s Basketball First-Team as selected by the league’s head coaches.
Rother was also named the GPAC Defensive Player of the Year and the Mustangs’ Jim Sykes was named the Hauff Mid-America Sports/GPAC Coach of the Year.
Sykes guided the Mustangs to this year’s GPAC regular season championship with a league record of 16-2. Morningside, which was ranked No. 1 in the nation for much of the regular season, will take a 28-3 record and a No. 2 ranking into the NAIA Division II National Tournament slated for March 12-18 at Point Lookout, Mo.
Rother, a repeat selection on the All-GPAC first-team, is the Mustangs’ leading scorer with an average of 13.2 points per game to go along with a norm of 3.5 rebounds per contest. He also leads the team with 52 steals and ranks second on the team with 66 assists for averages of 1.7 steals and 2.1 assists per game. He has made 143 of 320 field goal attempts for 44.7 percent, 43 of 111 3-point field goal attempts for 38.7 percent, and 81 of 108 free throw attempts for 75.0 percent.
Rother is Morningside’s all-time leader with 182 career steals and the is the fourth leading scorer in Morningside history with 1,598 career points.
Pargett, who moved up from last year’s All-GPAC second-team, is averaging 12.2 points and 4.4 rebounds per game. He has made 141 of 279 field goal attempts for 47.0 percent, 64 of 155 3-point field goal attempts for 41.3 percent, and 52 of 64 free throw attempts for 81.3 percent. He has 47 assists and 43 steals.
Pargett is the 15th leading scorer in Morningside history with 1,168 career points.
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Seth Atkins |
In addition to their two first-team selections, the Mustangs’ Seth Atkins, a 6-6 junior center from Grand Island, Neb., was named to the All-GPAC second-team. Atkins is the Mustangs’ second leading scorer and top rebounder with averages of 12.5 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. He has made 134 of 243 field goal attempts for 55.1 percent and 121 of 185 free throw attempts for 65.4 percent.
Morningside’s Matt Johnson, Shane Michael, and David Price all received honorable mention All-GPAC recognition.
Johnson, a 6-1 senior guard from Council Bluffs, Iowa, is averaging 7.1 points per game and leads the Mustangs with 82 assists for an average of 2.7 per game. He is also the Mustangs’ best free throw shooter with 48 free throws in 59 attempts for 81.4 percent.
Michael, a 6-2 senior guard from Sloan, Iowa, is the top scorer off the Mustangs’ bench with an average of 8.3 points per game and is the team’s top 3-point threat with 70 3-pointers in 136 attempts for 51.5 percent.
Price, a 6-6 senior forward from Centerville, Iowa, is averaging 7.5 points and 5.0 rebounds per game and leads the team in field goal accuracy with 89 hoops in 142 attempts for 62.7 percent.
Click here for the complete 2008 All-GPAC Men's Basketball Team.
Cory Gaston, a 6-2 guard fro
m McCook High School in Nebraska, is the first recruit announced by Morningside College men’s basketball coach Jim Sykes this year.
Gaston is averaging 15 points, six rebounds, three assists, and two steals per game this season for McCook, where he also competes for the Bison’s football and track & field teams.
He earned honorable mention Class B all-state honors from the Omaha World-Herald and was selected to the McCook Daily Gazette’s all-area team last season when he averaged 16 points, five rebounds, three steals, and two assists per game. Gaston had shooting accuracy marks of 51 percent from the field, 42 percent from beyond the 3-point arc, and 72 percent from the free-throw line last season.
Gaston was a Nebraska Class B state track meet qualifier in the 300-meter hurdles last year. In football he was a two-time McCook Daily Gazette all-area performer who helped lead the Bison to state runner-up finishes in 2005 and 2007 and the state semifinals in 2006.
 Jack Rother, a 6-3 senior guard from Wolbach, Neb., has been named to the 2008 ESPN The Magazine College Division Academic All-District VII men’s basketball first-team as selected by College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
Rother was named to the academic all-district VII first-team for the second year in a row. As a first-team all-district selection, Rother’s name will be placed on the national ballot for the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America voting. Rother was a second-team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American last year as well as a NAIA Daktronics All-American Scholar-Athlete.
Rother has a 3.91 cumulative grade point average (GPA) and is majoring in business administration with an emphasis in management and finance. He is the leading scorer with an average of 12.5 points per game for a Morningside team that has a 23-1 record and is the No. 1-ranked team in the nation in the NAIA Division II. He is the fifth leading scorer in Morningside history with 1,486 career points.
Student-athletes must be of at least sophomore status and have a minimum GPA of 3.20 in order to be eligible for ESPN The Magazine Academic honors.
 Jack Rother, a 6-3 senior guard from Wolbach, Neb., has been named the Hauff Mid-America Sports/Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) Men’s Basketball Player of the Week for the week of Jan. 7-13.
Rother was the Mustangs’ leading scorer in both of their victories last week as the Mustangs, ranked second nationally in the NAIA Division II, improved to 18-0 on the season.
He led the Mustangs with 15 points and a season’s high eight rebounds, plus had six assists in a 79-61 victory against Midland Lutheran, followed by a 23-point, four-steal performance in a 93-81 overtime win against Briar Cliff. Rother made 10 of 17 field goal attempts, six of eight 3-point field goal attempts, and 12 of 14 free throw attempts in the two victories. Rother became Morningside’s all-time leader with 163 career steals in the Briar Cliff game to break the former school record of 161 steals by Eddie Ceaser from 2002-05.
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