Reivers open conference play with win

Council Bluffs, IA -- The #21 Iowa Western men opened up conference play with a 87-74 victory over Marshalltown Saturday night (1/13/18) at Reiver Arena. The win moves the Reivers to 17-2 overall on the season.

Iowa Western held the traveling Tigers from Marshalltown, IA to just 29 points in the opening half; and headed into the locker room with a nine point cushion 38-29. It was a battle of two contrasting styles in the second frame as the Reivers continued to work inside with post-ups as well as attacking drives to the goal.  Meanwhile Marshalltown began attacking from the outside. In all, the Tigers would shoot 27 three point attempts, connecting on 12 of them. Meanwhile, Iowa Western outscored their conference foe 44-22 inside the paint.

Spearheading that interior play was Isaiah Wade, who finished the contest scoring a game high 23 points on 10/16 shooting and grabbing a team high 7 boards. Patrick Dembley added points from both inside and outside with 20 points in the contest; while Decardo Day and Jevon Smith added 11 points to round out the double figure scorers for the Reivers. Day and Smith contributed more then just points for their team; Day dished out a team high 5 assists, while Smith shared the team rebounding high with Wade getting 7 rebounds as well.

Marshalltown was lead in scoring by Kelton Edward's 23 points and Oscar Kao's 22 point performance; connecting on a combined 9 three point field goals between the two of them.

The Reivers played strong on both ends of the floor. 18 was a number that represented that balanced defensive and offensive effort in this first conference game; as Iowa Western offensively dished out 18 assists, while on the defensive end of the floor creating 18 turnovers against Marshalltown's offense.

After two home games at Reiver Arena to open the 2018 portion of the schedule, the Reivers return to the road. Up next is another conference contest at Norfolk, NE to take on the Northeast Hawks this Wednesday night (1/17/18). Tip time is slated for 7:00pm.