Big second half propels Waldorf men to home-opening win

FOREST CITY, Iowa - A huge second half run helped give the Waldorf men's basketball team their first win of the season in a 73-64 win over Luther College in the home opener for the Warriors.

Waldorf trailed Luther 38-29 at halftime and they quickly fell behind by 16 points at 47-31 just three minutes into the second half. Luther called a timeout, but that seemed to reset the Warriors. Ufo Ejiofor made a layup off a feed from Emmanuel Ferguson that started a run for Waldorf. Khalil Grayson followed with a 3 that trimmed the deficit to 11. Another Ejiofor layup made it a single-digit deficit at 49-40 with 11:27 remaining. A Nick Graves layup ended a 10-0 Waldorf run that cut Luther's lead to 1 at 49-48. Later, a Grayson jumper gave Waldorf the lead at 52-51. John Gray added a 3 to put the Warriors up 55-53. Waldorf's defensive intensity was evident down the stretch. Anthony Robinson had multiple steals. The defense held Luther to just 28.6 percent shooting in the second half including 2-for-14 from 3-point range. Waldorf on the other hand, shot over 54 percent from the floor in the second half and outscored Luther 44-26 in the final 20 minutes.

Ejiofor led all scorers with 19 points on 7-for-10 shooting. Graves had 17 points off the bench. Grayson contributed 15 points off the bench as well.

Waldorf (1-5) begins GPAC play Saturday at Hastings.