IW men tied for sixth at break

Iowa Wesleyan men's basketball is 10 games into the season, and although the Tigers have only mustered three wins, they're still alive in the hunt for a SLIAC tournament berth. The Tigers sit at 1-3 in the conference, two games outside of the top four.

IW fell in its first three conference games of the year. IW lost a tough road game at Westminster, 77-72, dropped a home game against Webster 66-52, and lost another nail-biter 68-65 at Spalding.

IW did pick up a win before Christmas. The Tigers traveled to Principia in mid-December and defeated the Panthers 85-82.

The Tigers have looked to a number of different players to lead the offense this year, especially in SLIAC games. Avree Clark led the team with 19 points at Westminster. Alberto Torres and Camron Mack netted 12 points apiece against Webster. Austin Rebel scored 17 in the loss to Spalding, and Jake Neubauer led the way with 23 against Principia.

Rebel scores 14.7 points per game overall, which is 14th in the SLIAC. The top two scorers in the conference both play for winless Principia, with Micah Paulson scoring 27.4 points per game and Trevaughn Goodman scoring 22.6. Paulson had 30 in the loss to IW, while the Tiger defense held Goodman to 14.

Rebel also leads the team in scoring during conference games. He has scored 13.3 points per game in the team's four SLIAC tilts. Paulson still leads the conference in scoring when looking at SLIAC games only, scoring 27.5 points per game.

Despite having two of the most prolific scorers in the league, Principia is the only winless team in the SLIAC. The Panthers are sitting alone in last, at 0-4 overall.

Webster and Greenville are currently tied in the SLIAC lead, with each team going 4-0 through their fist four games. Westminster is 3-1 with a loss at Blackburn, and Spalding is 3-1 with a loss against Webster.

IW is tied in sixth place with three other teams; Blackburn, MacMurray and Eureka. The Tigers will begin their 2019 schedule with two of those teams, hosting Blackburn on Wednesday, Jan. 2, and traveling to MacMurray on Saturday, Jan. 3.

Full SLIAC standings through the first four games are listed below.

2018-19 SLIAC MEN'S BASKETBALL STANDINGS

T-1. Webster 4-0

T-1. Greenville 4-0

T-3. Westminster 3-1

T-3. Spalding 3-1

5. Fontbonne 2-2

T-6. Blackburn 1-3

T-6. MacMurrray 1-3

T-6. Iowa Wesleyan 1-3

T-6. Eureka 1-3

10. Principia 0-4