WAVERLY, Iowa -- The University of Dubuque men's basketball team (12-5, 7-1) traveled on the road for a contest against the Wartburg College Knights (14-4, 7-2) in a battle where the victor would have sole possession of first place in the A-R-C standings. The Knights are the only conference loss by the Spartans and the Spartans were looking to return the favor on Wednesday night. In the previous meeting, the Knights came into Stoltz Sports Center and handed the Spartans a close 77-73 loss. Tonight the Spartans took care of business on the road 59-42 and move into sole possession of first place in the A-R-C standings.
The first half would start off start off in a quick 5-5 tie before a 13-0 run by the Spartans capped off by a
Jaylin McCants three pointer made the score 18-5. The Spartan offense struggled a bit in the first half, but thanks to the Spartan defense they held the Knights to 4-32 (12.5%) from the field and 2-16 (12.5%) from beyond the arc to help cap off a 27-13 halftime advantage for the Spartans.
Sam Kilburg had himself a first half as he scored 15 of his 17 points in the first half on 6-8 shooting.
The Spartans would start the second half expanding their lead using a 12-6 run to increase their lead to 20 at 39-19. The Spartans would grab their biggest lead at 22 with 6:20 left to go in the game. With the game in hand, the Spartans would sub players out for the final two minutes and claim an important victory over the Knights by a final score of 59-42.
The Spartans were led in the winning effort by
Sam Kilburg and
Brock Simon who each scored 17 points.
Peter Ragen posted a double-double tonight with 13 points and 10 rebounds. As a team, the Spartans shot 20-57 (35.1%) from the field and 8-22 (36.4%) from beyond the arc in the win. The Spartans were able to out rebound the Knights 49-41 and led the game for 34 minutes of action.
The Spartans return home with a six-game winning streak this weekend when the Nebraska Wesleyan Prairiewolves coming to town with tip-off set for 4:00 p.m. in Stoltz Sports Center and Jon Davison Court.
