Iowa Wesleyan men bested by Blackburn

MT. PLEASANT - Something just wasn't right for the Iowa Wesleyan men's basketball team on Wednesday night. The Tigers shot poorly, allowed Blackburn College to play at their own pace, and turned the ball over 19 times in a 75-59 loss.

Things looked promising early. Alex Dentlinger and Jake Neubauer hit back-to-back 3-pointers to help the Tigers jump out to a 6-0 lead. Blackburn responded with a 12-3 run, but IW battled right back to grab the lead again, at 19-17, on a Dentlinger layup with 8:42 to go in the half.

The Tigers went cold in the final minutes of the first half. Blackburn went on a 24-11 run to close out the opening frame, and the Beavers had all the momentum and a 41-30 lead at halftime.

Jarryd Fernandes cut the lead to single digits on a layup 15 seconds into the second half. Blackburn scored the next five points, but Neubauer nailed back-to-back threes to get it back to eight, at 46-38. That, however, was the closest the Tigers would get.

Blackburn eventually stretched their lead to 26 points, leading 74-48 with 4:56 to go. IW scrapped back to shed 10 points off the lead by the end of the game, but that was small consolation for an opportunity missed with a St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference home game.

They were just tougher than us,” said Tiger head coach Alex Huisman. 'We missed shots early, didn't get stops on defense and didn't get the calls that we hoped for. We let that take us out of what we wanted to do. We didn't have the toughness to battle through that adversity, and that's what happens when you play good teams like that. They were a lot better than us tonight.”

Despite the loss, Neubauer had a fantastic day shooting, going 9-for-15 from the field and 7-for-12 from 3-point land. He finished the game with 26 points and four steals.

Alberto Torres had eight points in the loss. Austin Banks had seven points and four assists. David Seber scored six poitns. Dentlinger had five points. Fernandes had four points and eight rebounds. Kaleb Cresswell scored two points, and Matthew McCracken had one.

The Tiger men are now 8-12 overall and 5-8 in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. They'll play Eureka Colleg on the road on Saturday.