CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – The University of Dubuque men's basketball team faced the Coe College Kohawks on Wednesday evening after being off for a week. The Spartans would enter Kohawk Arena looking for revenge after the Kohawks dominated the Spartans in early January in Dubuque. Wednesday night, with just five seconds left in the game and trailing by a point, Sam Kilburg dribbled down the court and shot a contested three-pointer at the buzzer for the game winning shot and a 67-65 conference victory

"What a game," said head coach Robbie Sieverding. "We played a solid first half, but Coe was pretty good in the second half. I can't say enough about Sam. He has hit some big shots in his career here, but that was a big time shot."




The Spartans were riding a two-game win streak after their back-to-back road wins over Nebraska Wesleyan University and Buena Vista University. The Kohawks came into tonight riding a four-game losing streak. With the conference season winding down, both teams needed a crucial victory.

The Spartans would play the first 20 minutes leading for its entirety starting out on a 5-0 run in the first 2:36 of play. The Spartans would expand their lead to as big as 25-12 at the 8:13 mark of the first half. The Kohawks made a run in the final five minutes of the half to cut the Spartans lead to 31-24 at the break.

The offensive pace would pick up in the second half with the Kohawks going on a 5-0 run, cutting the Spartans lead to two which is the closest since the opening basket. The Spartans would get their lead back up to 10, but the Kohawks would rally all the way back to 61-61 with 2:59 left in the game. The Kohawks would take their first lead in the game at 63-61 off a tough fadeaway bucket with 35 seconds remaining. The next possession down for the Spartans Sam Kilburg would bury a triple from the left side to retake the lead 64-63 with 28 seconds to go. The Spartans would then pick up a crucial foul sending Coe to the free throw line making both now leading 65-64 with only five seconds to go. Then the magic happened as Kilburg would launch a three-pointer off his back leg and hearing nothing but a swoosh sending the Spartans home with a much needed victory.

Jaylin McCants led all scorers with 15 points on 6-14 (42.9%) shooting from the floor including three triples. Kilburg added 14 points and six assists. Brock Simon had 12 points, four boards, and five assists. Collectively, the Spartans finished the night 26-59 (44.1%) from the floor and 10-25 (40%) from beyond the arc. The Spartans only got to the free throw line seven times throughout the game but made five of them.

The Spartans now move to 16-6 overall and 9-4 in conference play. As the standings sit as of now the Spartans would be the #2 seed in the upcoming A-R-C tournament with three conference games to go.

Up Next
The Spartans will now return to Stoltz Sports Center where they will take on the Simpson College Storm on Saturday, February 11 at 4:00 p.m.