Men's Basketball Capture Game at Free Throw Line
Jan 14, 2015
DECORAH, Iowa - The University of Dubuque men's basketball team sank 5-6 free throws in the final 33 seconds to capture a hard fought Iowa Conference road victory over the Luther College Norse 68-65. Andre Norris became the 23rd Spartan to eclipse the 1000-point career mark (1,025 points) after he led the Spartans with a game high 31 points and 11 rebounds. It was the second time Norris has scored over 30 points in 2014-15.
Just three Spartans dominated the scoring, Norris along with teammates Gage Heffernan (14 pts) and Lucas Ware (11 pts.) would carry the load. UD's bench would score six points, but the Norse didn't fare much better as they would get just seven points from their reserves. The Norse held a four point halftime lead (28-24) after dominating the Spartans on the boards by holding the rebounding edge 22-13. Luther continued as they ended the game with a rebounding advantage 40-29. The Spartans turned the ball over six times while the defense forced the Norse into committing 17 miscues.
"Give Luther credit because they did some things offensively that caused us some problems and they knocked down shots when we had defensive breakdowns," added Head Coach Robbie Sieverding.
The Spartans captured the league game by sinking 19-22 attempts at the free throw line (88.9%), the Norse would finish the night making 8-14 attempts at the line (57.1%). UD shot a chilly 17.6% from beyond the three point arc after sinking 3-17 attempts.
"Brandon made a big bucket down the stretch with just over a minute to play and we were able to make some clutch free throws in the final minutes," said Coach Sieverding. "Our guys executed late in the game and took care of the ball."
The Spartans (12-2 overall, 2-1 in IIAC) continue their road stretch by facing the Buena Vista University Beavers (9-5 overall, 2-1 IIAC) in Storm Lake on Saturday, Jan. 17.
