Morningside’s men’s basketball team broke two school records in the 2017-18 season.

Morningside’s men’s basketball team broke two school records during the 2017-18 season.

Morningside made 1038 field goals to break its former record of 1027 field goals that was set in the 1983-84 campaign. The Mustangs made 1038 of 2024 field goal attempts for 51.3 percent to rank third nationally in the NAIA Division II in field goal accuracy.

Tyler Borchers, a 6-7 sophomore forward from Le Mars, Iowa, drilled a team-high 202 field goals in 296 attempts for 68.2 percent to rank fifth nationally and break the Mustangs’ former single-season record of 67.4 percent by Kyle Nikkel in 2014-15.

Aside from leading the Mustangs in field goal accuracy, Borchers also led the team in rebounding with an average of 7.8 caroms per game and with 40 blocked shots for a norm of 1.2 rejections per contest and was their second leading scorer with an average of 15.0 points per game. He posted the Mustangs’ top single-game scoring and rebounding totals of the season with a career-high 32 points in a 98-87 victory against Mount Marty College and a career-high 16 rebounds in an 80-76 triumph against Northwestern College in the GPAC Post-Season Tournament Championship Game.

Borchers topped the Mustangs with 11 double doubles, including a pair of double doubles at the NAIA II Men’s Basketball National Championship with 12 points and a game-high 11 rebounds in an 87-69 first round victory against Trinity Christian University and 20 points and a game-high 15 rebounds in an 84-73 second round triumph against Warner Pacific University.

Brody Egger, a 6-2 junior guard from Urbandale, Iowa, was the Mustangs’ leading scorer with an average of 15.9 points per game. Egger topped the Mustangs with 29 double figure scoring performances and had two of his top scoring efforts of the season in the NAIA II Men’s Basketball National Championship with a game-high 25 points against Warner Pacific in the second round and a game and season’s high 30 points against Indiana Wesleyan in the quarterfinals.

Egger was the Mustangs’ most prolific and accurate 3-point shooter with a team-high 80 3-point field goals in 175 attempts for 45.7 percent. He made a team-high 129 free throws in 145 attempts for 89.0 percent for the nation’s seventh highest conversion rate.

Egger will enter his senior season as the 12th leading scorer in Morningside history with 1271 career points.

Alex Borchers, a 5-10 sophomore guard from South Sioux City, Neb., led the Mustangs with 124 assists and 45 steals for averages of 3.6 assists and 1.3 steals per game. He dished a career-high nine assists in an 80-76 victory against the University of Saint Mary in the season opener for the Mustangs’ highest assist total since the 2012-13 season. Borchers was the Mustangs’ third leading scorer with an average of 12.5 points per game.

Zach Imig, a 6-3 freshman guard from Gretna, Neb., gave the Mustangs a fourth double figure scorer with an average of 12.2 points per game. He was the Mustangs’ second leading rebounder with an average of 5.2 rebounds per contest and also ranked second on the team with 115 assists and 38 steals for norms of 3.5 assists and 1.2 steals per game.

Morningside posted a 28-7 record in the 2017-18 campaign for its second highest victory total in school history. The Mustangs won the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) championship with a 14-4 league record and captured the GPAC Post-Season Tournament championship with an 80-76 victory against Northwestern College to win both GPAC titles in the same season for the first time in school history. Morningside, which posted its eighth 20-win season in the last 14 years, reached the quarterfinals of the NAIA Division II Men’s Basketball National Championship, where it lost 86-68 against eventual NAIA II National Champion Indiana Wesleyan.