Tiger men jack up Jays

The Iowa Wesleyan men's basketball team was picked to finish dead last in the SLIAC preseason poll, and Westminster was selected to finish second, but it didn't look like that was the case on Saturday at Ruble Arena. The Tigers knocked off the Blue Jays 75-59 for their first home win of the year.

The IW defense showed up big in the first half. The Tigers led the game 36-27 at halftime. Alberto Torres and Austin Rebel co-led the team with seven poitns each at the break.

The Blue Jays started the second half on a 14-3 run to take a two-point lead and all the momentum in the world was with Westminster, but IW responded immediately with a big run of their own.

Rebel tied the game with a layup with 14:15 showing on the clock. Westminster re-took the lead with a layup but Brian Patterson and Austin Banks hit back-to-back threes to make it 47-43.

Alex Dentlinger knocked down a three-pointer with 10:39 on the clock. Joshua Cole made the lead nine points with a layup, and Avree Clark hit a three-pointer to give IW a double-digit lead at 55-43 with 9:25 remaining.

The Tigers never let the Blue Jays get back within two possessions, and IW had its biggest win of the season.

'Guys did a really good job of executing the plan,” head coach Alex Huisman said after the game. 'We battled through some adversity that has kind of been our trend, couldn't get stops in the second half. They did a good job of sticking together. They just kept battling and toughened up, and we did what we had to to get a win.”

It was a total team effort for the Tigers, who had six players with eight points or better. Torres led the way with 13 points and three blocked shots. Jarryd Fernandes had 11 points and two blocks. Banks scored 10 points and dished out four assists.

Rebel had nine points. Dentlinger and Patterson scored eight points each. Clark finished with seven. Jake Neubauer scored four points and led the team with four steals. Kaleb Cresswell scored three points and Cole finished with two.

The Tigers moved to 5-11 overall with the win and 3-6 in conference play. They will have three conference games this week, starting today (Monday) at Fontbonne University. They'll hit the road to play Spalding University on Wednesday, Jan. 23, and head back home for a game against Spalding on Saturday, Jan. 26.

'It's big,” says Coach Huisman about the win. 'We've obviously struggled at home so far this year, but to step up and get a win gives us some good momentum going into a busy week.”

The women's team fell 103-61 behind 18 three-pointers from Wesminster.

Darby Massner led the Tiger women with 16 points. Allie Massner had 15. Harriet Fowler scored four. Deericka Martin and Da'Jaah Swolley had four each. Sarah Kavanh scored three. Madison Scholl had two, and Jordanne Mickley finished with one.