CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – The Wartburg men's basketball team experienced its first bit of action of the 2018-19 season as it played the NCAA Division I University of Northern Iowa in an exhibition game and came away with a 110-69 loss.
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The Panthers got off to a hot start, as they took an early 19-6 going into the first five minutes. The Knights began to claw their way back into the game, as senior guard
Jaran Sabus (Urbandale) connected on layups on two of the three next Knights' possessions to make the score 32-17 with 11:44 left in the first half.
Coming out of a media timeout, senior center
Josh Gehling (Dyersville) got Wartburg's offense going by scoring on a low post up-and-under to bring ti within 13. However, the Panthers would soon go on a 14-4 run to take the 46-21 lead with 7:14 to play in the first half.
UNI's transition offense provided a spark all throughout the first half, as it would continue to run the floor with back-to-back transition layups to make the score 54-23 with 5:53 left to play in the half. The Panthers would close out the first half outscoring the Knights 20-14 in the final five minutes to take the 74-37 lead at halftime.
In the first half alone, the Panthers hit on 27 of their 37 attempts from the field, good for 73%, including going 12-21 on three-pointers. Wartburg connected on 14 of 31 shots (45.2%), in addition to shooting 2-9 on three-pointers. Turnovers plagued the Knights, as they committed 13 in the frame.
Wartburg opened the second half with a three-pointer from senior guard
Cam Kickbush (Reinbeck) to bring the score to 74-40 in favor of the Panthers. Wartburg would then go on 21-15 run to bring the score to 89-58 with 12:25 to go. The Panthers answered with a quick 8-0 run to take the 97-58 lead.
The Knights would be outscored 11-10 over the next nine minutes as they trailed the Panthers 108-68 with 3:26 left to play. The Panthers finished the game by holding the Orange and Black to one point over the final three minutes to secure the 110-69 exhibition victory.
On the game, UNI shot 56.3% from the field, including 52.8% from three-point range. The Knights shot 43.5% by knocking down 25 of their 57 field goal attempts. From three-point range, the Knights hit 45.5%, including a sizzling 61.5% (8-13) in the second half. Turnovers played a large factor for the Knights, as Wartburg committed 23 turnovers compared to the Panthers' 15.
The Knights top scorer was freshman guard
Spencer Touro (Newhall), who scored 17 points on six of nine shooting, and 12 of his points occurred in the second half alone. Sabus totaled 15 points and added five assists and two rebounds.
Wartburg will return to action to make its regular season debut on Nov. 13, when it hosts Cornell College in the Buzz Levick Tournament.
Waterloo Courier recap
