IW sweeps Fontbonne to close out home schedule

By Andy Krutsinger, Mt. Pleasant News

The Iowa Wesleyan basketball teams closed their 2016 season out with a sweep on Wednesday night against Fontbonne University.

The women won a nail-biter, 48-44, and the men reached triple digits in a 108-82 blowout.

The Tiger women trailed, 18-16, at halftime and battled back to take the lead in the second half.

The two teams found themselves all knotted up at 40-40 with less than three minutes remaining, but a three-pointer from Darby Massner put the Tigers up, 43-40 with 2:30 left.

The Griffins cut the lead to as little as one point but they were never able to regain the lead and IW pulled out the win.

Cairece Allen led the way with 15 points and 12 rebounds for the Tigers. LaStella Slack had 10 points and eight rebounds.

Jaimie Hurd and Josie Zerrusen scored eight points apiece, with Hurd dishing out a team-leading four assists. Massner ended the game with five points and Ahlia Tai had two.

The men dominated from start to finish, taking a 60-40 lead at halftime and stretching it to as much as 34 points in the second half.

Brock Butler had a monster day, scoring 31 points on 11-12 from the field and 5-11 from down town. Steven Soukup added 28 points and eight rebounds.

C.J. Singletary scored 15 points in the win. Elijah Johnson had 11. Michael Soukup flirted with a triple double, scoring 10 points and leading the team with 10 rebounds, eight assists and five steals. Austin Walker had eight points. Dallas Majors and Jake Neubauer scored two apiece and Avree Clark had one.

The Tiger women moved to 10-12 overall and 9-6 in the conference. They are tied in fourth place with Fontbonne.

The men are 16-8 overall and 12-5 in SLIAC play. They trail Greenville and Westminster by one game, needing both to fall in their last match to earn a share of the conference title.

IW will travel to Eureka College for their final regular season games on Saturday, Feb. 18. The women will lead things off at 1 p.m.