DECORAH, Iowa – Men's basketball used a strong second half to comeback from down 18 points on the road to defeat Luther College 75-66 in the final American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) regular season matchup between these teams on Wednesday, Jan. 28.
The Knights' comeback was fueled by a 20-2 run to begin the second half led by 19 second-half points from
Austin Bienemann, who finished with a game-high 24 points.
Game Summary
- First Half
- The Norse jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the opening minutes before a basket from Ethan Yungtum and free throws from Bienemann made the score 8-4
- Mason Matson connected on a three pointer for the Knights, but Luther connected on its third and fourth made three pointer of the first five minutes to take a 16-7 lead
- Another score from Yungtum made the score 16-9, but Luther scored the next eight points to take a 27-9 lead midway through the first half
- The Knights began to cut into the lead following two free throws from Gabe Trujillo and back-to-back scores in the paint from Cael Schramm as Luther led 30-15 with just over eight minutes left in the half
- Luke Ladwig and Schramm both scored to cut the Luther lead to 12 with 6:19 left in the half before a two-minute scoring drought for both teams
- A Luther jumper stopped the scoring drought, but Wartburg outscored the Norse 7-6 in the final three minutes to make the Luther lead 39-26 headed into halftime
- Bienemann, Ladwig and Giovanni St Onge all scored for the Knights in the final minutes of the half
- Second Half
- Matson connected on another three pointer and Yungtum knocked down a jumper to cut the Luther lead to 41-31 three minutes into the second half of play
- Over the next four minutes of play Wartburg got on a 12-0 run to come all the way back and take a 43-41 lead with just over 11 minutes left to play
- Bienemann scored eight of Wartburg's 12 points during the run
- Yungtum nailed a three pointer before Bienemann scored five-straight points to put the Knights in front 51-45 with 9:32 left to play
- Luther cut the lead to 51-50 before a Bienemann steal led to a Schramm alley-oop slam to push the Wartburg lead back to 53-50
- After the Norse tied the game at both 53-53 and 55-55, Schramm cut through the paint for a layup plus the foul to make the score 58-55, Wartburg in front, with just over five minutes left to play
- Luther tied the game at 58-58 before Bienemann and Schramm combined for 10 points over the next three minutes to give the Knights a 68-60 lead with 2:08 left to play
- Bienemann made two three pointers and Schramm went 2/2 twice at the free throw line during the 10-2 run
- Trujillo and Ladwig each scored two points to push the Wartburg lead to 72-63 with under a minute to play
- Wartburg held off Luther for a 75-66 comeback win on the road following free throws from Lyle Olsen and Yungtum
Top Performers
Notes/Streaks
- The Knights close the A-R-C regular season series against Luther with a 91-31 record in conference play against the Norse
- Wartburg leads the all-time series 93-31
- Have won four-straight over Luther
- Fourth time scoring 20+ points this season for Bienemann
- Tied his career bests in three pointers and steals with four three pointers made and five steals recorded tonight
- Three points from tying his career high
- 14th double double of the season for Yungtum
- Second most in Division III
- Outscored Luther 49-27 in the second half
- Nine different Knights scored in the win
- The Knights have held opponents under 70 points in seven of the last 10 games this season
- No opponent has reached 80 points over that span
- Wartburg shot 50% from the field as a team for the sixth time this season
- First time in the last seven games
- Season lows in assists (four), offensive rebounds (five) and blocks (0) tonight
Next Time Out
The Knights are back in action on Saturday, Jan. 31 at 4 p.m. against Loras College inside Levick Arena.
