IW men down Columbia

CANTON, Mo. — Iowa Wesleyan has been paying some great ball here in the early season.

That play continued on Saturday on the second day of the Fairfield Inn Classic hosted by Culver-Stockton College.

The Tigers defeated Columbia College, 73-64, on the day to win their fifth straight.

Iowa Wesleyan’s Henry Shannon opened the scoring with the games first two points, but neither team could pull away.

Midway through the first, the Cougars built a six-point lead, but back-to-back deep balls from Joey Brown and a layup by Eric Howard put the Tigers on top.

After more back and forth drama, Columbia was able to find a spark at the end of the first half to take a 39-33 lead into the locker room.

Brown led the Tigers with 11 points at the half.

After the Cougars increased their lead early in the second half, the Tigers Carver Locke and Shannon both answered with three pointers to bring them back to within one.

After back-to-back free throws by the Cougars, Brown hit another three to tie the game at 44.

From then on out, Iowa Wesleyan was able to control the game until the final whistle.

The Tigers outshot the Cougars 53.7% (29-54) to 44% (22-50). The Tigers were narrowly outshot from the 3-point range, 43.8% (7-16) to 43.5% (10-23). Iowa Wesleyan’s bench was outscored by the Cougar’s bench, 22-14.

The Tigers improve to 6-1 on the season. Brown led Iowa Wesleyan with 19 points. Shannon finished with 13 and Allante Pickens added 11. Shannon and Victor Munoz each had five rebounds a piece.

Iowa Wesleyan will be back in action next weekend with the two-day Cobblestone Inn and Suites Classic hosted by Waldorf University.