LINCOLN, Neb. – The No. 4 seed University of Dubuque men's basketball team went on the road on Thursday and took down the No. 1 seed Nebraska Wesleyan University Prairie Wolves 93-85 behind 56 second half points by the Spartans. The Spartans will now play for an A-R-C Tournament Championship on Saturday at Loras College to take on the Duhawks. 
 
The Spartans jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead 1:27 into the game as Ethan Henderson buried a triple to start, followed by back-to-back buckets by Jacob Williams. NWU came back to tie the game, but Henderson would bury his second triple a little over four minutes into the game.

With a 20-18 lead with 12:13 remaining, the Spartans would only score two field goals over the final 12 minutes of the first half. NWU would go on a 19-11 run to take a 37-31 lead with 4:11 left in the first half. The Spartans were within two with under three minutes left, but a 10-2 run gave NWU a 10-point halftime lead. Henderson had 14 first half points and Jalen Scott had seven assists in the first half.

The Spartans trailed by as many as 14 in the early part of the second half, but Grady Thompson got going in the second half with 25 points with five made triples in the final 20 minutes that gave the Spartans a massive swing in momentum. The Spartans would come all the way back to tie the game with 6:53 remaining after a Josh Senica bucket plus the foul. The Spartans took their first lead of the second half at 73-71 with 6:24 left. That was the Spartans first lead since they led 20-18 eight minutes into the game.

NWU took the lead back briefly before the Spartans put the game away behind two clutch Scott triples and Thompson going 6-6 from the free throw line down the stretch.

After his 19^th point tonight, Thompson became the 27^th 1,000-point scorer in UD men's basketball program history and finished with a game-high 30 points and 13 rebounds as well as a perfect 8-8 at the line.

Scott also recorded a double-double for the Spartans with 22 points and 13 assists, to go along with five steals. Ethan Henderson scored a career-high 20 points and was also a perfect 8-8 at the free throw line. Williams finished with 10 points and Senica was back in the starting lineup tonight, adding eight points.

Hear from Robbie Sieverding
"Gutsy road win against a very good team. We struggled defensively at times tonight, but the second half was much better. Grady made some big shots and Jalen had a great all around game including 13 assists. We continue to have other guys step up and tonight Ethan also made some great plays."

The Spartans shot 50% from the field and beyond the arc in the second half, finishing 46.9% for the game from the field. The Spartans got out in transition tonight, scoring 20 points in transition compared to just five points for NWU.

A photo gallery link (courtesy of Ryan Coleman, d3photography.com.) from the semifinal game is available here: (https://d3pho.to/g/10708)

Up Next
With the win, the Spartans will now play in the A-R-C Men's Basketball Tournament Championship game on Saturday, February 28. The No. 2 seed Loras College Duhawks defeated the Kohawks on Thursday night and will host the Spartans at 7:00 p.m. from Lillis Court for the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Spartans and Duhawks have never faced each other in the A-R-C Championship game in the conference tournament's history.