Rough second half dooms Tiger men

The first half of Iowa Wesleyan's SLIAC tilt with Blackburn on Wednesday night was a defensive struggle through and through. One team found their rhythm in the second half, but unfortunately for Tiger fans, it wasn't the home town team. Blackburn outscored IW 43-29 in the second half to hand the Tigers a home loss.

It took two-and-a-half minutes before the first points were scored, with both teams trading misses early on, but Jake Neubauer got things going with a three-pointer to begin the night's scoring. Austin Rebel followed that with a layup of his own a minute-and-a-half later, and the Tigers held an early 5-0 leard.

Blackburn cut into that advantage throught the next seven minutes, and eventually took their first lead on a three-pointer by Duncan King. Kirby Bryason knocked down another three for the Beavers 20 second slater and Blackburn was on top by four, at 14-10.

The Tigers came back to tie the game on a layup by Austin Banks with 7 minutes to go in the first half, and Rebel added a couple of free throws with 5:36 on the clock. The two squads continued to trade the lead late in the half, and it was Blackburn who led 28-26 at the break.

Alberto Torres was on fire in the first half. He dropped 11 first half points off the bench, eight of which were scored over a one-and-a-half minute time period. He was the only player for either team to reach double digits before halftime.

The wheels startred to come off early int he second half. Blackburn leading scorer Karson Hayes, who was held to just seven points in the first half, went off for 18 in the second, and led a barage of Blackburn threes by going 4-4 from beyond the arc. The Beavers went 7-13 from three-point land in the second half, and that buried a Tiger team that still had trouble scoring themselves.

'Obviously the second half was rough for us,” IW coach Alex Huisman said after the loss. 'We really didn't shoot the ball well the whole game. We struggled to make shots, and struggled to score the basketball, and that puts a lot of pressure on you defensively.”

Coach Huisman also credited Blackburn for making shots when they needed to in the second half.

'As a team, they shoot the ball well,” he said. 'They kept shooting it, got some good looks, and made them.”

Neubauer scored 11 points in the second half and finished with 18 to lead the team. He also led the squad with three assists and three steals. Torres scored the only 17 bench points of the night to give IW two double-digit scorers.

Jarryd Fernandes, Banks and Rebel had six points apiece in the loss. Rebel led the team with 10 rebounds. Avree Clark finished the night with two points.