Reivers Fall On The Road To Raiders

Columbus, NE -- The Iowa Western men's basketball team continued to find it's struggles on the road this season as it stepped out of conference to take on Central Community College Saturday (1/25) afternoon. Fresh off an exhilarating conference win over #16 Southeastern Wednesday (1/22) evening that saw 27 lead changes and 10 ties; the Reivers looked flat all day long against their counterparts from the Cornhusker State. The Reivers would go on to drop their game with the homestanding Raiders 91-78.

The first half was marred with Reiver turnovers, as Iowa Western struggled to find offensive rhythm, scoring just 25 points in the game's first 20 minutes of play.  At halftime, Iowa Western already had 9 turnovers to just 4 assists; and trailed 41-25 at intermission.

The second half showed a game Reiver squad; actually outscoring Central in the second twenty minutes with a 53 point second half. Limiting their turnovers to just three committed in the second frame, Iowa Western clawed to within four points with 9:32 remaining; however that is as close as the Reivers would get. Two consecutive three point field goals by Central stemmed the Reiver run as timely baskets kept the Reivers at arms distance the rest of the way.

Iowa Western had five players score in double figures: Caleb Huffman (16pts), Kaleb Thornton (14pts), Mal Pine and Josiah Strong (13pts apiece), and Damontrez Ruffin's 11 points rounded out the double figure scorers; whom now re-enter conference action with a critical game this Wednesday (1/29) evening back at Reiver Arena.

The conference tilt is against the visiting Northeast Hawks, who enter the game against Iowa Western one game behind the Reivers in the conference standing; but whom due to a 89-83 win over the Iowa Western two weeks ago on January 11th, would hold the head-to-head tiebreaker with Iowa Western with a road win in Council Bluffs.  Tip time between the Reivers and Hawks is slated for 7:00pm.