AURORA, Ill. - The University of Dubuque men's basketball team opened up their season tonight at Aurora University. After a dominating opening half, the Spartans would go on to start the season in the win column with a 88-76 victory on the road.

The Spartans started the 2024-2025 campaign on fire shooting the basketball. The Spartans went 19-32 (59.38%) from the field and 10-17 (58.82%) from beyond the arc to put up 49 points, grabbing a commanding 21 point lead in the first 20 minutes of play. 

Jaylin McCants began his final year with a 32 point performance (22 in the first half) on 68.4% shooting. McCants hit five three-pointers in seven attempts and finished with nine rebounds (three offensive) along with a pair of steals. This tied the second most points McCants has scored in his career for the Spartans (35 points is his career-high). 

Aurora responded after the halftime break with a quick 5-0, but McCants would halt the run with a three-pointer. Aurora would use a 19-7 run over an eight minute span to cut the Spartans lead to 10, but the Spartans quickly got the lead back up to 19 before closing the game out with the win.

Three other Spartans reached double figures as Jalen Scott finished with 15 points in his first game with UD while the Dubuque Senior High School duo of Nick Kennedy and Jacob Williams made their collegiate debuts recording 11 points each. 

Hear from Robbie Sieverding
"Road wins are tough, but we had a handful of guys step up tonight. Jaylin was special and played great on both ends. We also got solid production from Jacob and Nick off the bench. We shot the ball extremely well from three all night going 14-29. We have many things to improve on, but tonight was a step in the right direction."

The Spartans have currently won 15 straight non-conference road games dating back to the final non-conference game of the 2022-2023 season. 

Up Next
The Spartans (1-0) will be on the road again next week as they face the Edgewood College Eagles on Wednesday, November 13 at 7:00 p.m.