Tiger men tower over Westminster

MT. PLEASANT - Before the Iowa Wesleyan men took on Westminster College on Wednesday night, senior post Jarryd Fernandes decided he was going to live on the boards, and he did just that. Fernandes pulled down 17 rebounds in the Tigers' 77-71 win, a victory that earned a split in a St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader. The women fell 88-68.

'Coach said sit there for a half a minute and focus on something you're going to focus on in the game tonight,” Fernandes said. 'I sat there and said, ‘I want every rebound.'”

The Tigers out-rebounded the Blue Jays 42-33 in the six point win, but no two rebounds were more important than the pair Alex Dentlinger grabbed in the closing seconds. Westminster had nearly erased a 44-32 halftime lead for the Tigers and cut it down to three points in the final ticks, but the junior cleared the boards on back-to-back Blue Jay possessions, and went 4-for-4 from the line in the last minute.

'He's an upperclassman now,” said Coach Huisman. 'The expectation is for him to be one of those guys that settles us down and helps us close these games out.”

The pair of Tiger forwards led Iowa Wesleyan in the score book. Fernandes had a team-high 15 points to go along with his 17 rebounds, and Dentlinger went for 14 points and four boards.

Marvin Saintolien scored 12 points and dished out three assists in the win. Kaleb Cresswell had 10 points. Sy Sanchez scored nine. David Seber had seven. Jett Tjaden finished with six, and Jared Arellano had four.

The IW women came out of the gates with a purpose in the preceding game. The Tigers jumped out double-digit lead in the first quarter, before Westminster cut it to 27-20 after one and 42-34 at halftime. Freshman Anija Simmons had 17 points to lead the Tiger women into the locker room.

Unfortunately for the Tigers, Westminster responded in the second half. The Blue Jays battled back to tie the game at 57-57 in the third, despite 11 third-quarter points from Iowa Wesleyan's Morgan McCrea, and Westminster won the deciding fourth quarter 31-11.

'They've got a lot of potential,” said Tiger women's coach Jazmyne Laskey. 'They come into practice every day and are ready to learn.”

McCrea finished the night with 24 points and nine rebounds to lead Iowa Wesleyan. Simmons finished with 17 before fouling out in the fourth quarter. Asantee Tillman scored 10. Sydney Farrar and Taylor Wiatrak had seven apiece, and Hannah Sykora scored three.

The Tiger men are now 2-4 overall and 1-1 in the SLIAC. The women are 1-5 overall and 1-1 in conference play. Both teams will welcome in Eureka College on Saturday.