Cold shooting doesn’t deter Tiger men

MT. PLEASANT — At first glance, it seems not much went right for the Iowa Wesleyan men’s basketball team on Monday when they welcomed in an 11-2 Hasting College team for a rare 3 p.m. game.

Not only did the Tigers shoot a dreadful percentage from outside, but the Broncos seemingly couldn’t miss. Yet, with all that being said, Iowa Wesleyan still walked off the court winners.

The Tigers knocked off the Broncos 71-66, earning their 13th win in a row, and improving the already impressive resume of a team that is already receiving votes in the NAIA men’s basketball poll.

“They shot it very well, and we didn't,” said Tiger head coach Jordan Ashton. “We just had to stick to our principals. I told our guys to stick to what we do.”

Hastings nailed 12 of its 22 3-point attempts in the game, eight of which came in the first half. Iowa Wesleyan, on the other hand, shot 4-for-20 from 3-point land, but won the rebounding battle 30-23, outscored the Broncos in points off turnovers, second chance points and bench points to make up for the deficit.

“I don't think we'll have a lot of nights like that,” Ashton said. “But when you do, you just have to find other ways.”

The Broncos led throughout the first half, but a five-point Bronco advantage turned into just two when Gacoby Jones hit one of those four 3-point baskets, a running shot as time expired to make it 55-53 before the break.

Hastings turned the pressure on early in the second half, jumping back out to an eight-point lead with 15:26 left to go, but another 3-pointer by Joey Brown IV cut it back to five, and the Tigers began to go to work on the inside to start the comeback.

“We really challenged Victor (Munoz) and Francis (Okwuosah),” said Ashton. “In the first half, we didn't think they were playing tough enough and aggressive enough. We kind of got on them a bit and challenged them for the second half, so coming out, we wanted to feed them a little bit more and really prove themselves in that area.”

The Tigers fed the ball down low over and over again, and eventually took the lead 53-52 on a Hakeem Odunsi layup with 11:45 remaining. Hastings responded by getting the lead back and building it to six, but the Tigers again punched right back, eventually reclaiming the lead at 63-62, with 3:36 left on the clock, on a layup by Brown.

Hastings never saw the lead again. The Tigers held the Broncos to just four points over the last four minutes to wrap the game up.

Brown was lights out from the field, shooting 6-for-7 overall and 2-for-3 from 3-point land for 18 points. Henry Shannon finished with 14 points, eight rebounds and two blocks. Munoz had 12, and Jones finished with 11 points and two blocks to give the Tigers four double-digit scorers.

Odunsi scored seven points off the bench. Carver Locke finished with five, and both Okwuosah and Dylan Hurley chipped in two.

The Tigers are now an impressive 14-1, and are one of the hottest teams in the entire NAIA going in to winter break, but Coach Ashton says he doesn’t see his team starting to settle.

“Hopefully we don't get comfortable,” Ashton said. “We've almost gotten beat the last couple of times, so there's really no reason for us to get comfortable right now.”

Iowa Wesleyan will pick back up in January, starting at the Continental Athletic Conference Classic in Espanola, New Mexico on Jan. 6-7. Those will be the first two of seven conference games to be played before the end of the season.