CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa-- Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) Men's Basketball Tournament semifinal action saw No.1-seed Nebraska Wesleyan defeat fifth-seeded Wartburg 94-77 and No. 6-seeded Central upend second-seeded Loras 113-108. The Prairie Wolves and Dutch will collide Saturday, February 24 in Lincoln, Nebraska with tip off set for 7:00 p.m.
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A season ago Nebraska Wesleyan was the regular season co-champion but failed to make the IIAC tournament title game. Fast forward one year and the Prairie Wolves now own their second IIAC regular season trophy and find themselves in the hunt for a tournament title and NCAA berth. Central is heading back to familiar territory, having been to the IIAC tournament championship four of the last five years and six times in total since the tournaments inception in 1999. The Dutch have won three IIAC tournament titles (2016, 2014, 2010).
No.1 Nebraska Wesleyan - 94, No.5 Wartburg - 77 BOX SCORE
The Prairie Wolves were red hot shooting the ball tonight. NWU shot 62.5% from the field making 35-56 and drained 16-32 three-pointers. At the free throw line NWU went 8-10. The Prairie Wolves were led in scoring by
Nate Schimonitz and
Nate Bahe, who each put up 24. NWU's third leading scorer was
Cooper Cook with 10. Schimonitz also added 10 assists and one rebound on the night. On the boards it was
Jack Hiller leading the way with seven rebounds.
Deion Wells-Ross and Bahe each added five rebounds.
Wartburg's
Jaran Sabus was the leading scorer with 19 points, followed by
Cam Kickbush with 12 and
Max Smith Drahos with 10. Drahos also added five rebounds to pace the Knights and Sabus brought down four as the second leading rebounder. From the field Wartburg made 29-60 for a game average of 48.3%. From deep the Knights connected on only six of 25 three pointers and at the free throw line they made 13-20.
No.6 Central - 113, No.2 Loras - 108 BOX SCORE
In a high scoring affair in Dubuque, both teams shot the ball extremely well. Central closed out the semifinal win making 35-65 from the field for 53.8%. Behind the arch they made 9-21 for 42.9%. Of Central's nine three-pointers, six came in the first half where they shot 54.55% from three-point. At the free throw line the Dutch made 34-40. The Dutch were led in scoring by
Jamel McKnight, who led all IIAC players with 31 points.
Kyle Smith and
Jaden Moody added 18 points each as the second leading scorers. Smith and
Nick Drucker were Central's leading rebounders with seven a piece.
Malik Wildermuth added six rebounds.
Loras had three players with over 20 points on the night. Of those three,
Josh Ruggles put up a team high 27.
Ryan DiCanio and
Demond George added 23 each. DiCanio added 11 rebounds to record the only double-double in the league tonight. George was the second leading rebounder with four. As a team Loras shot 50% from the field, making 31-62 shots on the night. From three-point, the Duhawks found the bottom of the net on 11-26 for a game average of 42.3%. At the charity stripe Loras made 35-48.
