INDIANAOLA, Iowa - After having dropped their last two conference matchups with Coe and Loras, the University of Dubuque men's basketball team bounced back on Saturday afternoon with a 86-74 road victory over the Simpson College Storm behind a career high 35 points for sophomore, Jaylin McCants.  

Coming into the matchup, both the Spartans and Storm dropped their previous games with the Spartans falling to their rival Loras College and the Storm defeated by Nebraska Wesleyan. Simpson had a one game lead at 4-2 in the conference whereas the Spartans sat at 3-3 in conference play. 

In the previous two losses by the Spartans, they would get off to slow starts, but against the Storm the Spartans would set the tempo early up 14-9 with 14:39 left in the first half. From there the Spartans would use a 12-0 run in the next five minutes to lead 26-9. The Spartans would then get their biggest lead of the game with four minutes to go before halftime at 39-21 before leading by 12 points heading into the half. McCants scored 21 of his 35 points in the first half. 

In the second half, the Spartans would be able to maintain a double digit lead for most of the first 10 minutes of the second half against the Storm. The Storm were not not out yet as they would chip into the Spartans lead and got it as low as four at 54-50 before the Spartans were able to snatch the momentum back and pick up a much needed victory in the road in the American Rivers Conference by defeating the Storm 86-74. 

McCants would end his day with a career high 35 points on 14-25 (56%) and 6-9 (66.67%) from the charity stripe and snagged 10 rebounds. The nine trips to the line for McCants adds to his already high total for the season in free throws attempted with 107 attempts. Three other starters for the Spartans notched double figures in the win as Brock Simon had 12 points, Sam Kilburg added 11 points with seven assists and Keegan Zimmerman scored 10. 

The Spartans shot the best they have shot from the field all season going 32-56 (57.1%) and hitting 11 three-pointers on 21 attempts (52.4%) which is also a season-high percentage. As with many games this year the points off turnovers battle played a pivotal role as the Spartans had 20 points off turnovers, whereas the Storm only managed six points off Spartans turnovers. 

With the victory, the Spartans move to 11-5 overall and 4-3 in A-R-C play. The Spartans currently sit tied for the third best record in the conference. 

Up Next
The Spartans will start to put wins together as their next three games are all at home. The first being Luther College on Wednesday, January 18 at 7:30 p.m. in the Stoltz Sports Center.