WAVERLY, Iowa – The Wartburg College men's basketball team (18-9 overall) will travel to face Central College (16-11) on Saturday for the Iowa Conference championship game beginning at 7 p.m.

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Iowa Conference Tournament
Wartburg is the No. 6 seed and upset No. 2 Loras College on Thursday night, 92-89. Central is the No. 5 seed and stunned No. 1 seed Nebraska Wesleyan University that same night, 85-63. Saturday marks only the second time in IIAC men's basketball tournament history the No. 6 seed has reached the finals. The winner of the title game will be receive an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

The Series
The Orange and Black hold a 64-46 all-time series lead, but Central was victorious in both regular season games. The Dutch won 94-90 and 91-86.

Wartburg
This is the tenth championship appearance for the Knights. The most recent finals game for Wartburg was last season when they fell 92-80 to the Dutch at Levick Arena. With a win, the Knights would make their first NCAA trip since the 2000-01 season.

In Thursday's win over Loras, sophomore Jaran Sabus (Urbandale) came off the bench and lit up the board for a career-high 35 points, crushing the program's previously set IIAC tournament scoring record of 32 points. Sabus' scoring average is now up to 14.0 points per game, behind senior Jordan Cannon (Bolingbrook, Ill) with a 16.4 average. In addition, Sabus tied Wartburg's tournament single-game field goal record, as he went 13-15. Senior Nick Webber (Peosta) tied Wartburg's assist record with eight assists against the Duhawks.

Central
The Dutch average 81.8 points per contest, which falls short of Wartburg's 85.1 scoring average per game. Colby Taylor leads the Central offense with 20.8 points per game. Kyle Smith (13.9 points per game), Pete Walker (13.3) and Trashawn Boyd (10.2) trail Taylor in scoring.