March 29, 2024

Spartan men fall to 2-4 in league with road loss

ESTHERVILLE — Iowa Lakes men captured their first conference victory of the season Saturday at the expense of Southwestern, 73-57.

Both teams got off to a slow start offensively, sitting at 2-2 for several minutes. The Lakers extended a 31-25 halftime lead quickly to 36-25, and from that point the Spartans were scrambling from behind.

Spartan coach Todd Lorensen said his squad wasted a chance to seize a league road victory when it was playing solid defense in the early going.

“We were up 4-2 and playing great defense on the road, getting defensive rebounds,” Lorensen said. “We were getting good looks, but couldn’t finish around the rim at times. If we had gone up 10-2 or something, I think we could have put them away. But instead we were missing bunnies and had some turnovers, and they started to make shots. We let that affect our defense and gave up some transition stuff.”

Still, the Spartans fought back from an 11-point deficit in the second half. TJ Bower sank a 3-pointer and Mataika Kovamainavure made a play at the rim to cut the Iowa Lakes lead to 50-45 with just under 10 minutes to play.

But then Iowa Lakes scored and forced a Spartan turnover, and the Lakers were on their way to a double-digit victory.

Kovamainavure led Southwestern with 14 points. Smith had 10 points and Bower eight, but those two perimeter threats in the Spartan lineup finished 5-of-22 from the field and a combined three 3-pointers for the night.

“We’re just not a very good road team right now, and we have to do something about that,” Lorensen said of his squad, now 0-3 in the league in away games, and 2-1 at home for an overall 2-4 conference mark. In all games, Southwestern stands 16-7 going into two non-conference games this week starting tonight at AIB JV in Des Moines.

A game was added to the schedule Thursday at home against Central College JV at 7 p.m. before returning to league play next Wednesday at Ellsworth.

Saturday’s loss was costly for hanging among the top contenders. DMACC leads at 5-1, with Kirkwood at 4-2. Then there’s a logjam at 3-3 that could have included Southwestern, now involving Iowa Central, NIACC and Ellsworth.

SWCC is sixth in the eight-team league. The No. 1-seeded team draws a regional tournament bye, while second through fourth get to open at home.

“We want to get a home game in the tournament, and that is still very realistic for us,” Lorensen said. “But our margin for error is very small now.”

IOWA LAKES (73) — Brandon Boggs 4 6-6 15, Trey Burkhall 5 1-2 12, Rachard Moody 3 5-6 11, Jeff DeCock 4 1-1 9, Justin Sloter 4 0-0 9, Kyle Bauer 2 0-0 6, Brendan Tucek 2 1-2 6, Blake Wilder 1 1-2 3, Lucas Smith 1 0-0 2. Totals — 26 15-19 73. FG shooting — 26-54 (48.1 percent). 3-point goals — 6-15 (Bauer 2, Boggs 1, Burkhall 1, Tucek 1, Sloter 1). Rebounds — 37 (Moody 8, Wilder 5, DeCock 4). Assists — 17 (Moody 12). Steals — 6 (Bauer 2, Boggs 2). Turnovers — 12. Team fouls — 20. Fouled out — None.

SOUTHWESTERN (57) — Mataika Koyamainavure 4 6-7 14, Jaylon Smith 2 5-8 10, TJ Bower 3 0-0 8, Jok Kut 3 0-2 6, Josh Kirk 3 0-0 6, Simon Joseph 2 0-0 4, Josh Tobert 1 0-0 3, Malik Williams 1 0-0 3, Dylan Mason 1 0-0 3. Totals — 20 11-18 57. FG shooting — 20-54 (37 percent). 3-point goals — 6-19 (Bower 2, Mason 1, Williams 1, Tolbert 1, Smith 1). Rebounds — 30 (Joseph 8, Smith 5, Bower 5, Kut 4). Assists — 8 (Kirk 4). Steals — 2 (Ahmad Newsome 1, Tolbert 1). Blocked shots — 3 (Kut 3). Turnovers — 11. Team fouls — 17. Fouled out — None.

ILCC — 31 73

SWCC — 25 57