WAVERLY, Iowa – Men's basketball won its fourth-straight game to move to 6-1 overall after opening American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) play with a 74-56 win over Luther inside Levick Arena on Wednesday, Dec. 3.
The Knights jumped out to a 14-0 lead over the Norse in the first half and Wartburg never gave up the lead in route to an 18-point victory.
Game Summary
- First Half
- Austin Bienemann got the scoring started in tonight's game with an emphatic alley-oop slam after a dish from Luke Ladwig
- Bienemann made his first two three point attempts of the night to score the first nine points of the game and give the Knights a 9-0 lead
- Following a Luther timeout, Ethan Yungtum connected on a three pointer with an assist from Ladwig and then Ladwig took one to the hoop for a score to put Wartburg in front 14-0 with 15:55 remaining in the half
- Luther was able to get on the board 50 seconds later with two made free throws, but the Knights responded with a 7-0 run led by three pointers from Bienemann and Yungtum
- Wartburg led 21-2 with 11:31 left in the first half
- Luther made its first field goal of the game with a three pointer at the 10:29 mark and the Norse rallied for a 10-4 run that cut the Wartburg lead down to 25-12 with 8:17 left in the half
- After a back-and-forth next four minutes of play, Wartburg remained in front by 13, leading 35-22
- Wartburg ended the half on a 11-7 run that was closed by a three pointer from Yungtum in the final seconds of the half to give Wartburg a 46-29 advantage at halftime
- Second Half
- Gabe Trujillo, Ladwig and Yungtum all scored two points to begin the second half for the Knights and Wartburg's lead remained 17 after three minutes of play into the second half
- Over the next two and a half minutes of play, Wartburg shut Luther down and went on a 10-0 run led by dunks from both Cael Schramm and Bienemann to put Wartburg in front 62-35
- The Knights' lead grew to as many as 32 points following a score in the paint from Schramm with an assist from Drake Wemark that put the Knights in front 69-37 with 12:36 left to play
- Luther executed a 15-1 run over the next eight minutes of game time to cut Wartburg's lead to 70-52 with 4:29 left to play
- Both Mason Matson and Clay Nielsen put the finishing touches on Wartburg's win with two points each in the final minutes to secure a 74-56 win at home
Top Performers
Notes/Streaks
- Wartburg now leads the all-time series 91-32
- Third-straight win over Luther
- Wartburg has won 14 out of the last 16 matchups over the Norse
- Second-straight season with a 6-1 overall start for the Knights
- Sixth double double of the season for Yungtum
- Third career double double for Ladwig
- 10 assists ties his single-game high (fourth time reaching 10 assists)
- Back-to-back 20 point performances for Bienemann
- Fifth time this season with 15 or more points
- Least amount of points allowed this season by the Knights
Next Time Out
The Knights are in action next Saturday, Dec. 6 on the road against Coe College at 4 p.m. in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
