Mason City, IA -- The #20 ranked Iowa Western men returned to the road Saturday (11/18) evening after a three game home stand. The Reivers had posted two previous road wins in the State Fair Roadrunner Tip-Off Classic earlier in the month, however Saturday night's contest vs the 4-0 North Iowa Area (NIACC) Trojans was the Reivers first "true" road contest, as the two classic games in Sedalia, MO were not against the hosting State Fair Roadrunners. Iowa Western was up to the task and then-some posting an impressive 50 point (115-65) victory in front of a good sized Trojan crowd.
The Reivers opened up to hot shooting from Patrick Dembley, who would end the night with a game high 27 points, and Decardo Day's game high 7 assists finding multiple Reivers in the opening moments. Adalberto Diaz had his strongest performance as a Reiver, the 6'7 juco transfer scored a season high 12 points while grabbing 9 rebounds. NIACC made a 8-1 scoring run to narrow the margin to a 23-21 score midway through the first half, but following a timeout the Reivers would finish the half outscoring their hosts from northern Iowa 33-15, and headed to the locker room with a 56-36 halftime lead.
In the second frame the Reivers continued their torrid shooting clip, finishing the ball game shooting 55% from the floor and once again sharing the basketball; accumulating 21 assists to their 37 made field goals. Rhyss Lewis was perfect from the floor shooting, making all four of his field goals, including both of his three point attempts and a pair of free throws for 12 total points. Lewis had company in scoring as all but one Reiver scored for the visiting team from Council Bluffs. Along with the aforementioned Dembley, Diaz, and Lewis; other double figure scorers were Day (11), and Emmanuel Ugboh (10). Iowa Western was equally, if not more impressive on the other end of the floor; holding the Trojans to just 29 points the entire second half.
Iowa Western improves their record to 6-1 and turn their attention south to a trip to Kansas City where they will play Kansas City-Kansas Community College this Tuesday (11/21) evening. Tip-off is slated for 7:30pm in the city of fountains.
