WAVERLY, Iowa - The University of Dubuque men's basketball team opened their two game road trip with a 79-60 victory over the Wartburg College Knights on Wednesday night behind four Spartans in double-figures.

It was a constant back-and-forth battle with the Knights throughout much of the first half. With both teams tied at 26-26 with 6:27 left in the opening half, the Spartans defense stepped up big not allowing the Knights to score a single point on their way to a 12-0 run to end the half.

The Knights would make a brief run to start the second half, trimming the Spartans lead to only five at 44-39 just over five minutes into the half. With the Spartans leading by 14 with 11 minutes left, an ensuing 15-5 run gave the Spartans their biggest lead of the night at 76-52 with less than five minutes remaining. 

Hear from Robbie Sieverding
"Our guys put together a solid 40 minutes tonight on the road. Jacob was really good especially with Jaylin in foul trouble most of the night. Our defense was able to turn them over which led to some easy baskets to get us going. We wil turn our focus to Buena Vista who had been playing really well."

Jaylin McCants had a game-high 18 points in 23 minutes as McCants was in foul trouble in the first half. Three other Spartans reached double-figures as Jacob Williams finished with 15 points with a perfect 2-2 from the perimeter while Dylan Hibicke and Jalen Scott had 11 apiece. Scott also added six assists and five rebounds. 

As a team the Spartans shot 30-71 (42.3%) from the field and dominated the points in the paint battle 44-28. Turnovers were a key factor in this one as the Spartans forced 23 Knight turnovers, turning them into 30 points. The Spartans were very smart with the ball all night with only eight turnovers. 

The Spartans move to 9-4 overall and 3-1 in conference play. 

Up Next
The Spartans will face the Buena Vista University Beavers on Saturday, January 11 at 3:30 p.m. from the Siebens Fieldhouse in Storm Lake, Iowa. The Beavers (8-5, 3-1) suffered their first conference loss on Wednesday at Loras College.