35-point performance from Cordes helps #9 Jimmies win at Dordt

SIOUX CENTER, Iowa-- Will Cordes (JR/Shakopee, MN) scored a career-best 35 points Saturday to help the ninth-ranked Jimmie men's basketball team to a 93-90 win over Dordt University.

Twenty-nine points was the previous high for Cordes, which he achieved twice in the 2021-22 season.

In his second game after sitting out the previous five due to injury, Cordes was a perfect 5-for-5 from three-point range on the way to 19 first-half points. UJ shot 58 percent from the field overall and connected on 12-of-21 threes in the first 20 minutes.

While Jamestown was doing their damage from the outside, the Defenders went to work on the inside. Dordt hit on 66 percent of their first-half shots, making 16 of 23 tries inside the arc.That included a 9-for-11 effort from Jacob Vis, who had 24 points at the break.

Cordes put the Jimmies up by 10 early in the second half, but Dordt cut the lead to three just 69 seconds later. The Defenders would take the lead with 5:34 to play on a Luke Rankin bucket.

The game featured three ties and six lead changes before Cordes gave Jamestown an 89-87 with 50 seconds left.

All five UJ starters finished in double figures. Marc Kjos (SR/Lake City, MN) had 14 points and six assists, Reid Gastner (SO/Lake City, MN) added 13 points and nine rebounds, and Cole Woodford (JR/Redwood Falls, MN) and Mason Walters (SR/Jamestown, ND) each had 11.

Vis matched Cordes with 35 points, and Bryce Coppock (16) and Rankin (12) also reached double digits.

Jamestown (13-3, 5-3 GPAC) hosts Briar Cliff Wednesday at 7:45 p.m.