The fourth-ranked Dakota Wesleyan University men’s basketball showed just how many scoring options it has in its 2009-10 home opener Wednesday night at the Corn Palace in Mitchell. Seven different Tigers scored at least nine points in the team’s 92-60 win over Grace University.

DWU (3-1) got on the board with an emphatic dunk from senior Preston Broughton just 48 seconds into the game and used that momentum to open with a 9-2 run. Grace hung around and trailed by just six nine minutes into the game at 17-11, but DWU got a 3-pointer and a drive from Darrin Dorsey, back-to-back baskets inside by Brady Wiebe and a tip in by Bo LaCroix for a 13-0 run to pull ahead 30-11.

The Tigers lead swelled to 21 points, 49-28, at the half and eventually got as big as 34 points in the second half as DWU cruised to victory. Dakota Wesleyan shot 55.3 percent from the floor as a team, controlled the boards 42-26 (including 17 offensive rebounds) and had 21 assists as a team in the win over the Royals.

Broughton had his best game of the young season, highlighted by his two-handed slam less than a minute into the game in his return to the Corn Palace after missing last season with a knee injury. He recorded his first double-double of the year with 14 points and 13 rebounds on 7-for-12 shooting from the floor.

Chase Walder added 13 points, including three 3-pointers, Wiebe scored 10 points and grabbed seven rebounds and Matt Dykstra scored 12 points off the bench. Dorsey, Mitch Bain and Bo LaCroix each added nine points in the win. Bain’s stat line included eight assists and six rebounds and Dorsey had three steals.

Jon Loutzenhizer led Grace with 14 points, LaMar McMorris had 11 points and Levi Entz added 10 points and seven rebounds in the loss. DWU pressured the Royals into 24 turnovers.

The Tigers will try for their third-straight win Friday when they travel to Madison, S.D., for a nonconference game at Dakota State University. After opening with three road games before making its Corn Palace debut, DWU will now go back on the road for three games before hosting the University of Wisconsin La Crosse at home on Nov. 28.

Courtesy: DWU Sports Information.