INDIANOLA, Iowa - The University of Dubuque men's basketball team traveled on the road to face off against the Simpson College Storm on Saturday afternoon. Entering the game the Spartans were playing for at least a share of the American Rivers Conference regular season title with a win against the Storm. The Spartans would use a strong second half surge to claim their second straight A-R-C regular season title with a 90-68 win. Buena Vista knocked off Wartburg College today and handed the title to the Spartans, who claimed the conference title outright and will be the #1 seed for the A-R-C tournament. 

The Storm were able to get off to a hot start shooting the ball as they grabbed the early 13-9 lead before the Spartans would claw their way back to grab their first lead at 26-24 with 8:30 remaining in the first half. The Spartans would hold a six point advantage with eight seconds left in the first half, but would be cut to three off a Storm three-pointer. The Spartans would rush down to the other end where Sam Kilburg would find an open Hunter Snyder who drained a three-pointer from the corner at the buzzer to get the Spartan lead back to six, 44-38. The Spartans would open the second half on their best scoring run of the game to build their lead to 52-41. The Spartans would continue to be aggressive on offense and get their lead as big as 28 before claiming the 90-68 victory and clinching the conference title. 

In the winning effort, the Spartans were led by four Spartans who reached double figures. Peter Ragen was the leading scorer for the Spartans with 18. Brock Simon would go 7-8 from the floor to collect 15 points. Jaylin McCants added 11 points and Dylan Anderson would score 10. Sam Kilburg was able to dish out eight assists to lead the Spartans. 

The Spartan's are collecting their second consecutive conference title after claiming the 2021 title. In 2021, due to a COVID-altered regular season schedule which employed an eight-game single round-robin, in place of the typical 16-game double round-robin, the coaches and Athletic Directors approved recognizing a single Conference Champion in lieu of a regular season and tournament champion. With this, the coaches and Athletic Directors approved, for the first time, an all-comers tournament, which usually has six participants, that determined the 2021 Conference Champion.

Up Next
The Spartans will not have to travel far for Wednesday, February 16 contest against the Loras College Duhawks where tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. Following Wednesday's game, the Spartans will close out the regular season with a home contest against the Luther College Norse for Senior Day on Saturday, February 19 at 4:00 p.m. The Spartans will then reset for the A-R-C tournament that will start on Thursday February, 24 at 7:00 p.m. The Spartans will be home for the semi-final match and their opponent will be determined at a later date.