STORM LAKE, Iowa – Wartburg men's basketball was defeated 94-92 on the road against Buena Vista University in a high scoring American Rivers Conference matchup. The Knights fall to 16-7 overall and 9-5 in A-R-C play.
Game Summary
Wartburg's offense came out firing with a 7-2 run capped off by a
Davis Roquet three-ball to start the game. Buena Vista settled in and cut the Orange & Black's lead to 9-7 after a pair of free throws from Michael Demers with just over 16 minutes left in the half. The Knights answered with another run and back-to-back threes from
Marshun Williams and
Keagan John to give them a 21-11 lead.
Another Williams three would give Wartburg a 13-point, which was its largest lead of the half, with 10:17 to play. BVU was able to chip away at the lead with its three-point shooting and with seven minutes left to play the lead was cut to three points. The Beavers took their first lead with 2:11 left in the half and would hold on to take a 47-44 lead into the break.
The Knights fought back to start the second half and tied the game at 50 apiece with 15:54 left in the half. John and Demers traded threes and neither team was able to pull away from each other. Every big shot was followed by an answer from the other team and with 9:01 to play Wartburg took a 70-68 lead after a
Jack Molstead three-pointer.
Molstead was good again from three with 5:58 to play to put the Orange & Black in front 80-74. The Beavers would retake the lead after an 8-0 run put them in front 82-80 with 3:31 to play, but
Codey Hicks answered on the other end with a dunk to tie the game back up. It looked like BVU would pull away after extending the lead to six with under a minute to play, but
Drew Olson hit a three-pointer to bring the Knights within a possession. Williams scored a layup to bring it to 89-88, but the Beavers made the free throws when it counted and held on in a free throw battle to win 94-92.
Wartburg outshot the Beavers from both the field and from three, but it was not enough to overcome Buena Vista's scoring. The Orange & Black shot 56.3% from the field and 52.6% from three compared to BVU's 48.4% from the field and 36.1% from three. The Knights have now lost six straight matchups with BVU.
Game Leaders
The Orange & Black were led in scoring John, who had 22 points, and Williams who finished with 19 points off the bench.
John had the hot hand today, going 8/11 from the field and 75% from downtown. The senior guard also added four rebounds and assists. John also tied with Olson for a team-high in steals with two.
Williams scored 12 in the first half and finished with a field goal percentage of 77.8% and a mark of 3/3 from three-point range. The sophomore forward shot 100% from the free throw line and grabbed four rebounds in the contest.
Olson led the Knights in both rebounding and assists tonight with six (tied with Roquet) and eight respectively. The senior guard was held to seven points in the contest.
Next Time Out
Wartburg is back in action on the road Wednesday, Feb. 16 when they travel to Coe College for an A-R-C matchup at 7:30 p.m.
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