IW men win final home game

In their final game at Ruble Arena this season, the Iowa Wesleyan University men's basketball team hosted Fontbonne University on Wednesday night. The Tigers fell to the Griffins in their first meeting, but they avenged the early season loss with an 87-79 win over Fontbonne this evening.

Iowa Wesleyan played a hard fought game against the Griffins, edging out Fontbonne in shooting percentage (35.8) and three point field goal percentage (32.4) on the night. It took a bit for the offenses to get rolling, but the Tigers found themselves with a 6-1 lead over the Griffins with 16:39 on the clock. After a three-pointer by Fontbonne, Jake Neubauer answered with a three pointer to give the Tigers a six-point lead. The Griffins found themselves in front with nearly 13 minutes remaining in the opening half, and they would build a six-point lead over a three-minute span. Iowa Wesleyan was not out of it, however. Alberto Torres scored five straight to cut the lead to one, and Alex Dentlinger would put IW in front with a three pointer with just under six minutes left in the first half. Iowa Wesleyan would take a five-point advantage into the break after a three pointer by Kaleb Cresswell in the final seconds of the period.

The Tigers started off strong in the second half with a 10-4 run in the first three minutes of action. Fontbonne charged back and cut the IW lead to four points, but Brian Patterson converted an old fashioned three point play to swing the momentum back in Iowa Wesleyan's favor. Fontbonne would not go away and with 10:19 left to play, they tied the game up at 57-57. Both teams traded baskets and tied the game back up on several occasion, but the final tie came with 3:18 remaining in the game. Iowa Wesleyan went back in front with a free throw from Torres, and Fernandes made a layup to put the IW lead at three points. Austin Banks drained a three-pointer to give the Tigers the momentum with just over a minute to go. The Griffins were forced to foul and IW held on for the 87-79 victory.

Neubauer and Torres led the way for the Tigers with 19 points and 18 points respectively Alex Dentlinger added 16 points and Brian Patterson finished with 10 points for the final two Tigers who reached double digits. Jarryd Fernandes grabbed a team high 10 rebounds in the win.

Iowa Wesleyan will wrap up their season on Saturday, Feb. 16. They will make the short trip to Eureka, Ill., to take on the Red Devils at 3 p.m. The Tigers are now 7-17 overall and 5-12 in SLIAC play.