TRENTON, Mo. - The Iowa Western Reivers opened up the Andy Shaw Era by splitting a pair of games on the opening weekend of the season at the North Central Missouri College Classic. The Reivers faced the host team on Friday night and fell to the Pirates by a score of 78-58. The final score looks lopsided, but the Reivers and Pirates were tied at halftime 25-25. Iowa Western would go ahead by 4 points early in the second half, but the offense would struggle the rest of the half, and the defense could not get any stops which allowed North Central to run away with the game. The Reivers only saw two players score in double figures as Ikenna Ude-Smith led the way with 14 points, and freshman Jadon Cool chipped in 10 points.
On Saturday the Reivers would bounce back with a much better performance as they throttled North Arkansas College 95-63, giving head coach Andy Shaw his first win as the leader of Iowa Western. The Reivers jumped out to an early lead in the game and never looked back. The offense flowed much better and the defense would turn up the heat on North Ark. Iowa Western went into halftime with a 16-point advantage 46-30. Early in the second half, the Reivers would extend the lead up to 20 points and the run continued as Iowa Western dominated in the second half. The Reivers shot 45% from the floor for the game, and 35% from the 3-point line. Iowa Western also shot free throws very well as they connected on 20 of 25 attempts for 80%. Jadon Cool led the way in scoring for the Reivers with 20 points on 6 of 8 from the floor and a perfect 7 for 7 from the free-throw line. Ikenna Ude-Smith recorded a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds. Ude-Smith also dished out 4 assists in the contest. Freshman point guard DaCarter Coleman had an excellent performance with 11 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists. Devon Junghans also reached double digits scoring with 11 points.
Iowa Western starts the season 1-1 and will return to action on Monday, November 6th for a home matchup vs York University JV at 7:00 pm. Iowa Western JV will play on Monday at 5:00 p.m. vs. Concordia JV.
