PELLA, Iowa – Wartburg men's basketball held off a second half comeback from Central College to win 80-75 in an American Rivers Conference matchup on the road. The Orange & Black move to 11-2 and 4-0 in A-R-C play behind
Drew Olson's 26 points, which ties a career high for the senior.
Game Summary
The game started with a made three from both offenses and the first five minutes were back and forth with Wartburg holding a 15-8 lead. A
Keagan John three-pointer extended the lead to 12 points with just under 10 minutes to play in the half.
Central cut the lead down to seven, but the Knights closed the half on a
Marshun Williams layup that made the score 42-28 at the break. Wartburg was led in scoring by John, who had 10 first half points.
The second half began with each team scoring twice, but after three minutes of play, Central went on a 11-2 run to make the score 49-46 Wartburg with 13 minutes left. Back-to-back threes from Williams brought the lead back up to nine points.
Central regained the lead with under five minutes to play and the teams went back and forth leading to a 72-72 tie with just over two minutes to play.
Davis Roquet put two free throws in to make the score 74-72, but Kade Terrell answered from beyond the arc to make the score 75-74 Central in front. The Orange & Black closed on a 6-0 run coming from a three-point play from Olson and free throws from John and
Jack Molstead.
The Knights were outshot 52.7% to 50% from the field but held an advantage in three-point shooting 38.5% to 34.8%. Despite being outrebounded, Wartburg held a lead for 35:52 minutes compared to the Dutch's lead time of 1:46.
Game Leaders
Olson led the Knights in scoring and in steals with 26 points and 2 steals. The senior guard scored 17 of his 26 points in the second half to help hold off the Central comeback. The Osage, Iowa native shot 71.4% from the field and was four of five from three, while also adding three assists and six rebounds in the contest.
John led the Orange & Black in both assists and rebounds in tonight's matchup with six assists and seven boards. The New Hampton, Iowa native also shot the ball efficiently, scoring 14 points with a field goal percentage of 71.4% and two for four from beyond the arc.
Williams and
Codey Hicks combined for 24 off the bench to help the Knights hold off the late push from the Dutch. Williams scored 14 and shot 71.4% from the field and two for three from three-point territory. Hicks scored 10 points and recorded the best field goal percentage in today's game (minimum three attempts) with 83.3%.
Next Time Out
The Knights are in action next on Saturday, Jan. 8 at Levick Arena for an A-R-C matchup against Nebraska Wesleyan University. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m.
For more information on Wartburg Athletics, follow the Knights on Twitter, Instagram, like us on Facebook, or sign up for text updates/score alerts from the rainedout.net text-messaging system
