DUBUQUE, Iowa - The University of Dubuque men's basketball season ended Thursday night after a 78-71 loss to the Central College Dutch in overtime. The Spartans led after one half, but could not find enough offensive momentum in the second half and in overtime to have the edge over the Dutch.
The first half was a game of runs. The Spartans jumped out to an early 7-0 lead and led 13-4 just four minutes into the game. The Dutch responded with a 12-4 run to cut the deficit to 17-16. The Spartans would go back up by double digits, leading 36-25 after a 19-9 run. The Dutch were able to cut the deficit to 39-35 at the half.
Central got their first lead of the night with the second half's opening basket. After being all tied at 45-all with 14:05 remaining, the Spartans would ensue on a 9-0 run to get back out front 54-45. Down the stretch, the Spartans trailed 64-58, but two consecutive possessions of a pair of free throws by Sunday John and a 3-pointer by Grady Thompson gave the Spartans life only trailing by one with 32 seconds left.
After Central split a pair of free throws, the Spartans raced down the floor trailing by two and after back-to-back misses, Jaylin McCants would lay it in to tie the game at the buzzer.
In overtime, the Spartans were not able to score until 27 seconds left in the extra period. Trailing 74-65, the Spartans would simply just run out of time, falling to the Dutch in the semifinal round of the A-R-C Tournament.
The Spartans shot 48.39% in the first half, but after the half, the Spartans simply could not buy a basket. The Spartans were 10-46 (21.7%) in the second half and overtime.
McCants finishes out his stellar career with 24 points and 14 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season. His 14 rebounds were a season-high. Thompson scored 20 points, while John and Jacob Williams each had nine points.
Hear from Robbie Sieverding
"Our fans were great and it's never easy to see the season come to an end especially with how we were playing. I believe we won 13 of our last 15 games with both losses coming in overtime since January 1st. Tonight was not our night. We did not shoot the ball well and had some decent looks and couldn't seem to capitalize. Give credit to Central as they played a more complete game tonight. We played though a bunch of foul trouble again tonight and seems like that was the case the past handful of weeks. Told our guys to be proud of what they accomplished as it was an unbelievable year where this team just kept improving and was so much fun to coach. Jaylin will go down as an all-time great and helped secure several conference championships and national tournament berths. Very fortunate to coach this group of seniors including Myles Leavy, Jerrod Jessie Jr., Keegan Zimmerman, Sunday John and Jaylin McCants."
The Spartans end their season with a record of 20-6.
