Iowa Wesleyan basketball swept at Fontbonne

ST. LOUIS, Mo. - The Iowa Wesleyan basketball teams didn't finish the regular season the way they wanted to, dropping a St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader at Fontbonne University.

The Tiger women's team fell 78-67, its second loss to the Griffins this season. The men's team dropped its game 76-66 to finish the regular season series with a split.

The Tiger women held a 18-13 lead after one quarter and took a 32-27 advantage into halftime. The Tigers couldn't hold on to that lead in the third quarter, as Fontbonne went up 47-45 just before the third quarter buzzer.

Iowa Wesleyan erased a five-point Fontbonne lead early in the fourth. Hannah Sykora's jump shot with 7 minutes and 9 seconds remaining gave the Tigers a one-point lead, at 55-54, and Iowa Wesleyan ran that advantage up to five, at 59-54.

Iowa Wesleyan's last lead was 61-60. Fontbonne took a 63-61 lead on a 3-pointer by Rylee Stafford with 4:47 remaining, and that kicked off a 10-0 run that helped the Griffins pull away with the victory.

Morgan McCrea led the Iowa Wesleyan women with 25 points and 11 rebounds. Sykora finished the night with 14 points and four steals.

Asantee Tillman finished one rebound away from a double-double, going for 12 points and nine boards in the loss. Anija Simmons scored 10 points. Sydney Farrar had six.

The Tiger men held a 42-41 lead at halftime, and led by as much as five, at 51-46, in the second half. Fontbonne battled back to take a lead, and the teams were tied on a couple of different occasions, including 65-65 with six minutes remaining.

Unfortunately for the Tigers, Fontbonne had more left in the tank as the final minutes winded down. The Griffins ended the night on an 11-1 run.

Kaleb Cresswell scored 19 points to lead the Iowa Wesleyan men in scoring. Marvin Saintolien scored 15 points. Jarryd Fernandes had 10 points and 13 rebounds.

Carver Locke scored seven points for the Tigers. Jett Tjaden scored six. David Seber had four. Alex Dentlinger scored three, and the duo of Jared Arellano and Sy Sanchez finished with one apiece.

Both teams will return to action for their respective conference tournaments. The fifth-seeded Tiger men (4-9, 3-6) will travel to four seed Webster University tonight (Tuesday) in the SLIAC men's quarterfinals. The seventh-seeded Tiger women (2-12, 2-8) will travel to second-seeded Westminster College on Wednesday.