WAVERLY, Iowa – Men's basketball secured a 63-60 upset at home over (RV) Nebraska Wesleyan University on Saturday, Feb. 8. The Knights are now 13-9 overall and 6-7 in American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) play, while the Prairie Wolves are now 16-5 overall and 9-3 in A-R-C play.
 
Game Summary

• First Half
  • The Prairie Wolves jumped out to a 9-5 lead over the Knights in the first three and a half minutes of play
    • Austin Bienemann and Luke Ladwig both scored in the paint for the Knights
  • NWU took a 15-7 lead before Bienemann drove and absorbed contact for an and-one dunk that put Wartburg within five points with 14:21 left in the half
  • The Knights responded with a 9-2 run led by a Ladwig three pointer as well as scores from Gabe Trujillo, Ethan Yungtum and Bienemann to give Wartburg a 19-17 lead with just over nine minutes left in the half
  • Marshun Williams scored four of the next six Wartburg points to push Wartburg's lead to 25-19
  • Each team scored five points in the final five minutes of the first half, until Trujillo scored in the paint for Wartburg in the final seconds to make the halftime score 32-24
• Second Half
  • NWU came out of halftime on a 7-3 run to cut Wartburg's lead to 35-31
    • Marshun Williams made his second three of the game during the run
  • Richie Rosenblum broke a three-minute scoring drought to make the score 37-31, but NWU continued to claw back and tied the game at 37 with 11:51 left to play
  • The Knights retook the lead with a 7-2 run that was highlighted by a three pointer from Williams as well as an alley-oop dunk from Trujillo with an assist from Ladwig
  • Minutes later, the Priaire Wolves tied the game at 47-47 with under nine minutes left to play
  • Wartburg responded with another run, this time it was a 12-3 advantage over three minutes of game play to make the score 56-47 Wartburg, but BWU drilled three-straight three pointers to make the score 56-56 with 2:46 left in the game
  • Williams connected on his fifth three pointer of the half to give Wartburg a 59-56 lead and the Knights were able to hold off NWU for a 63-60 win at home
    • Trujillo iced the game at the free throw line with five seconds left to play

 
Top Performers

• Marshun Williams
  • 23 points
  • Three assists
  • Two rebounds
• Austin Bienemann
  • 14 points
  • Six assists
  • Three rebounds
  • One block
• Gabe Trujillo
  • 13 points
  • Eight rebounds
  • One steal

 
Notes/Streaks

• First win against Nebraska Wesleyan since the 2021-22 season
• NWU still leads the all-time series 14-6
  • Knights are now 5-6 at home in the series
• Career-high six made three pointers for Williams tonight
• Knights have held three of the last four opponents to 65 points or less
• Bienemann (six) and Ladwig (five) combined for 11 of Wartburg's 19 assists today
• Wartburg led for over 25 minutes

 
Next Time Out
The Knight are in action next on Wednesday, Feb. 12 on the road against the University of Dubuque at 7:30 p.m.