Iowa Wesleyan men fall 1-game short of national tournament

MT. PLEASANT — The Iowa Wesleyan men’s basketball team had Ruble Arena on its feet on Saturday, as the Tigers put a valiant effort in an upset-bid of top-seeded Florida College in the Continental Athletic Conference semifinals, but the Tigers couldn’t quite reach the finish line.

After upsetting fourth-seeded Wilberforce University 83-50 in Friday’s quarterfinals, the fifth-seeded Tigers put a second-half scare into heavy tournament favorite Florida College on Saturday, but the Falcons closed out strong to knock the Tigers out 82-66.

Iowa Wesleyan played its best game of the year on Friday morning. The Tigers placed a Wilberforce team that had beaten them by double-digits earlier this season, and Iowa Wesleyan absolutely blew the doors off of them to advance to the tournament final.

“We knew when the brackets came out that we liked the matchup, even though they got us last time,” said Iowa Wesleyan head coach Alex Huisman.

Iowa Wesleyan played in the tournament opener at 8 a.m. on Friday. The Tigers led 37-24 at halftime, and Wilberforce offered little resistance in the second half.

Iowa Wesleyan’s Carver Locke went off for 31 points in the semifinal win. He went 8-for-10 from the field and 12-for-14 from the line, and also led the team with nine rebounds.

“He was locked in and ready to go,” Huisman said. “When I subbed him out for a breather, he was telling me ‘just put me back in.’”

Locke, a Hawaii native says he was ready to get it going early.

“We came into this game knowing it was 8 a.m., and we were both going to be tired,” Locke said. “I came into it and tried to turn it into an advantage.”

Marvin Bateman scored 14 points and Victor Munoz put in 10 off the bench.

Heavily-favored Florida College led Iowa Wesleyan 42-32 at the break. The Tigers had trailed by as much as 17 points in the first half, but stormed back to cut it to just four with 9:24 remaining in the game, and Ruble Arena was on fire with a potential major upset in the making.

“I’ve been here for nine years now,” Huisman said. “When our students come in and pack this place, our guys feed off that.”

The Tigers, however, didn’t have enough gas down the stretch, and the eventual tournament-champion Falcons poured it on in the final minutes.

“It’s always tough when the year comes to an end,” said an emotional Huisman after the game. “This group put everything they had into it.”

Joey Brown scored 18 points and dished out four assists to lead the Tigers in defeat. Locke had 17, and Bateman finished with 14.

The Tiger men finished the season at 12-19.