Men's Hoops Shows Grit in 55-52 Win over BVU
Jan 12, 2019
DUBUQUE, Iowa – The University of Dubuque men’s basketball team pulled out a gutsy win on Saturday afternoon by taking down the Buena Vista Beavers, 55-52 in the final seconds.
Marcus McDaniel drilled a three pointer on the opening possession of the game for the Spartans for the quick 3-0 lead in the opening seconds, however, it would be the last Spartan lead for a while. Buena Vista would quickly take the lead from the Spartans and grew their largest lead of the game, seven, at multiple times in the first half. Every time it looked as if the Spartans were about to go on a run, the Beavers had an answer and took a four point lead into the break after UD’s Cade Daugherty hit a layup with four seconds remaining.
The second half was an offensive struggle for both teams. The Spartans regained the lead at 41-40 with 15:35 remaining after a Jason Barker layup, their first lead since 3-0. Neither team would make a field go over the next six minutes until Alex Rogers Jr. of Buena Vista hit a layup to break that drought, it was also the Beavers first field goal of the half after nearly nine and a half minutes.
The Beavers would once again get their lead up to seven points, this time with just under five minutes left. A pair of free throws and back-to-back layups from Deonte Newsome and Jason Barker brought the Spartans back within one with 3:09 remaining. With 1:42 remaining, Newsome once again came up clutch for UD, sinking two free throws to put UD ahead by one. After a stop by the Spartan defense, McDaniel converted on his two attempts from the charity stripe before the Spartan defense came up with another big stop and turnover to run out the clock for the three point win.
McDaniel powered his way to a game-high 20 points in 35 minutes of action. Deonte Newsome was the only other Spartan to reach double figures with 11. Dylan Hundley came off the bench to lead the Spartans with eight rebounds, including several in clutch situations.
In the second half, neither team made a shot outside of the paint which seemed to favor the Spartans as the Beavers made eight three pointers in the first half. The Spartans would finish the game at 34.5% shooting, while the Beavers shot 40.9% but just 22.2% in the second half. With the outside shot not falling for UD, they took their game inside, scoring 32 points in the paint, doubling up Buena Vista’s 16.
UD will take the week off before traveling to Wartburg on Saturday, Jan. 19th. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. in Waverly.
