Council Bluffs, IA -- "It's always hard to beat a good team three times", that is a popular sports lexicon. Iowa Western (25-6) was able to disprove that popular theory Wednesday (2/28/18) evening at Reiver Arena to collect a dominant 97-81 Region XI semi-final victory over a Southeastern team that was fresh off beating the nation's #7 ranked team in the country (Moberly) just one week earlier.

The Reivers stormed out of the opening gate with tremendous defense that triggered into high efficiency offense in the games opening moments. When the dust had settled, Iowa Western had a 27-10 lead after the games first nine minutes of action. The initial run was spearheaded by Jevon Smith who himself had a 8-0 personal run against the traveling region XI three seeded team from West Burlington during the games opening minutes. Smith would end up with 20 points in the first half alone on three point shots, drives to the basket, and cleaning up offensive rebounds en route to his Iowa Western career high 32 point performance.

Southeastern (22-9) would try to claw back into the game and with 9:05 left closed the gap to a six point difference.  However, following an Iowa Western timeout the Reivers began a 16-to-4 run, that for all purposes, ended the competitive aspect of the game. Along with Smith's 32 points, the Reivers had two other double figure scorers; Patrick Dembley added 15 points and a team high 5 assists, while Isaiah Wade collected his 16th double-double of the season with a 14 point - 11 rebound effort. Iowa Western once again outrebounded Southeastern for the third time this season (34-29).

Neshua Wise led Southeastern with 22 points in the Blackhawks final game of the 2017-18 campaign.

Iowa Western will travel to Ottumwa, IA to take on the nation's #1 ranked and only remaining undefeated team in the country, Indian Hills in the Region XI Championship Game. Tip time between the region's top two seeds is slated for 7:00pm.