Tigers survive Fighting Bees

DAVENPORT — Eleven games have been played since Iowa Wesleyan last lost a game and in each one the Tigers have answered the call and pulled out a win.

On Tuesday, against St. Ambrose University it was more of the same as the Tigers were able to top the Fighting Bees, 70-64.

The early part of the contest saw the Tigers and Bees trading buckets back and forth before the Tigers put together a 7-0 run midway through the first half to building a 16-9 lead.

Iowa Wesleyan would deliver another run to push the lead to 12 at 29-17.

The Bees would not quit though, going on a 13-5 run of their own to cut it to 34-30.

IW would finish the half with a bang going on a 6-0 run before the Bees’ Andrew Morrissey made a layup to make it a 40-32 game at the halftime break.

The Tigers were led by Hakeem Odunsi at the half with nine points off the bench on 3-5 shooting from the field. Joey Brown IV also added seven first-half points for the Tigers to lead the starters. Francis Okwuosah added four points and six rebounds for the Tigers.

Early in the second half, the Tigers would extend their lead to 16 points with a variety of Tigers scoring, including Dylan Hurley dropping in a three ball.

At the 7:34 mark, Amarey Wills made a jump shot to make a three-point game with the Tigers leading 57-54.

Over the next several minutes, the teams would trade punches yet again with the Tigers extending their lead, just to have the Bees claw their way back in with timely buckets.

The Tigers would take care of the basketball down the stretch and make their shots from the foul line to win it.

The Tigers outshot the Bees from the field by 45.5 percent (25-55) to 37.5 percent (24-64). The Bees outshot the Tigers from beyond the arc, 38.5 percent (5-13) to 32 percent (8-25). The Bees out-rebounded the Tigers 42 to 31. The Tigers had twice the number of assists as the Bees with 14 compared to the Bees' seven.

Allante Pickens led the Tigers with 15 points. Odunsi added 13 points. Brown and Hurley each finished with nine.

Iowa Wesleyan moves to 12-1 with the win. They will be back in Ruble Arena on Saturday, Dec. 17 as they will host Williams Baptist University at 1 p.m.