Spartan Men Win Tight Battle Over Norse
Dec 5, 2018
DECORAH, Iowa – The University of Dubuque men’s basketball team lead wire-to-wire in route to a 78-77 road win over the Luther College Norse.
The Spartans scored the first six points and 11 of the first 13 to take a commanding lead early in the contest. UD held at least a four point lead for most of the first half until Luther trimmed it to three points with 3:16 left in the first half. Back-to-back baskets from Deonte Newsome and Avery Butler in the final 90 seconds of the half helped pushed the UD lead back up to eight points heading into the break.
UD had a match for every basket and mini-run the Norse tried putting together in the second half, but the UD lead shrank all the way down to two ponts at the 5:42 mark of the second half. The Spartans answered back in a big way, going on an 8-0 spurt over the next 2:10, however, the Norse would not go away and continued to battle back, once again shrinking it back to a one possesion game in the final minutes.
After Marcus McDaniel sank two free throws with seven seconds left to put the Spartans up 76-73, UD made the smart play to foul the Norse to prevent them from attempting a game-tying three point attempt. The Norse would split free throws and Peter Ragen would sink both of his to push the lead back up to four, making the Norse three at the buzzer meaningless as UD would hang on to win 78-77.
Marcus McDaniel and Peter Ragen, both who were clutch down the stretch at the charity stripe, each scored a team-high 17 points in the win. In all, all five starters reached double figures in the scoring column. Michael Williams notched a double-double, scoring 10 and hauling in 15 rebounds, 12 of which came on the defensive end. Avery Butler just missed joining Williams with a double-double as he had 14 points and recorded eight rebounds. Deonte Newsome had one of his best offensive games of the season scoring 11 points, nine of which came in the first half.
UD made a living on the glass, outrebounding Luther 50-37, which led to a 13-4 advantage in second chance points.
The Spartan men head to Cedar Falls on Saturday to play an exhibition game against the University of Northern Iowa Panthers at 1:00 p.m. The game can be viewed on ESPN3.
