Cedar Rapids, Iowa -- Round one of the 2018 Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) Men's Basketball Tournament saw No. 5-seed Wartburg defeat No. 4-seed Simpson 76-72 and No. 6-seed Central upended No. 3-seeded Buena Vista 84-70.
The Knights and Dutch will stay on the road for the semifinal games on Thursday, February 22. Wartburg will make the trip to Lincoln, Nebraska for a match-up against No. 1-seed and Iowa Conference Regular Season Champion, Nebraska Wesleyan. In the other semifinal game, Central will travel to Dubuque to take on second-seeded Loras. Start time for both games is 7:00 p.m.
No. 5 Wartburg - 76, No. 4 Simpson - 72 BOX SCORE
Wartburg's
Kam Kickbush was the leading scorer for the Knights with 23 points, going 7-11 from the field, 5-7 behind the arch and 4-4 at the free throw line.
Jaran Sabus put up 17 points for the Knights as the second leading scorer and
Max Smith Drahos added nine. With seven rebounds,
Josh Gehling paced Wartburg, followed by Kickbush,
Sawyer Herman and
Nate Woeste with six each. Wartburg shot 53.33% from the field in the first half but dropped to 35.48% in the second half to close out the game at 44.3%. From three points the Knights finished the game at 33.3%, putting up 4-11 in the first half and 3-10 in the second half. At the free throw line Wartburg made 15-17 (88.2%) on the night.
Simpson was led by
Conor Riordan in scoring with 17 points.
Sam Amsbaugh and
Tyler Stumbo each added 16 points as Simpson's second highest scorers. Stumbo and Amsbaugh also led the Storm in rebounding with five each. As a team Simpson shot 44% from the field in the first half, followed by 43.75% in the second half to average 43.9% in the game. The Storm made 7-20 three point shots on the night with three coming in the first half and four following in the second half. At the charity stripe Simpson made 15-19 (78.9%) in the game.
No. 6 Central - 74, No. 3 Buena Vista - 70 BOX SCORE
Leading the Dutch in scoring with 17 points was
Kyle Smith. Smith was followed by
Jamel McKnight with 16 points and
Malik Wildermuth 15 points. With six rebounds a piece, Smith and Wildermuth were the leading rebounders for the Dutch. Central shot a 52.9 FG% on the night, making 27-51. The Dutch were steady throughout the game making 14-27 FG in the first half and 13-24 in the second half. From deep, Central connected on 13-25 three-point shots for a game average of 52%. At the free throw line Central made 5-6 in the first half and 12-15 in the second for an average of 81% on the game.
With 18 points,
Thomas Wisecup was the top scorer for Buena Vista.
David Jeffries added 10 points as the second leading scorer and
Canyon Hopkins put up eight. As a team the Beavers shot just 41% from the field, making 25-61 shots. Shooting from three-point, Buena Vista closed out the game 14-39 (35.9%). The Beavers struggled at the free throw line tonight going just 6-13 (46.2%)
