Spartans Open Conference with A Hard Fought Road Loss
Nov 30, 2016
STORM LAKE, Iowa - The University of Dubuque men's basketball tipped off their Iowa Conference season on a lengthy road trip on Wednesday evening at Buena Vista University. The host Beavers attcked early and pushed the lead to double digits midway through the opening half before UD rallied back to finish the first half with a one point lead 42-41. BV attacked in the second half to to push their lead to as many as 14 points en route to a 91-79 victory over the Spartans.
Four Spartans finished the night in double digit scoring. T.J. Lake led UD with 18 points after sinking 7-8 free throw attempts. Jamaree Atwater added 17 points after sinking three deep balls in his 27 minutes of action. Jacob Mohlis had the hot hand early and sinking a couple of three balls to finish with 14 points. Jake Weber fnished the night with a double-double, 11 points and 12 rebounds for the Spartans. "BV played well tonight and they had some guys step and make some shots," commented UD head coach Robbie Sieverding. "We need to get better on both sides of the ball in order to have some success moving forward. I liked that we had four guys in double figures but we still have much to improve on."
The two teams played even for a better part of the match with BV holding a slight edge in the paint 28-26. BV scored 18 points off the Spartans miscues and UD had 13 points off BV's turnovers. BV would collect just six points from their bench as UD's bench would finish with 30 of the teams points. UD sank 27-66 attempts from the field (40.9%), 7-30 from beyond the three point arc (23.3%), and made 18-25 free throw attempts (72%).
"We will get tested once again on Saturday with Loras at our place. They have a solid group and have been scoring the ball at a high rate so far this season. Should be a great game and hopefully at great atmosphere come Saturday" said coach Sieverding.
UD will return to action on Saturday, Dec. 3 when they host the Loras College Duhawks at 4:00 p.m. in Stoltz SportS Center.
