Mason City, Iowa

Iowa Western (4-2) jumped out quickly on Saturday against North Iowa Area (0-6) and in hindsight, it was a good thing they did.

The Reivers built a 37-30 halftime lead, but the Trojans roared back to start the second-half on a 12-4 run to take the lead and 21-7 to run their advantage to seven before the Reivers rallied to tie it at 54.

"Our guys did a great job keeping their poise in the second half after they went on a run." Said Head Coach Chad Van Riessen, "We continued to focus on playing hard and making the right play which allowed us to regain the lead and close out the game."

A pair of free throws by Dewayne Vass put the Reivers up a pair at 56-54, newcomer Kaedan Lawary gave the Reivers another lead at 59-57 on another pair after NIACC had retaken the lead briefly.

After another tie, Kelvin Balfour added an and-1 to put IWCC up three, 62-59.  The Reivers would build their lead to as large as seven before the Trojans' rally fell short in the 82-78 IWCC win.

"We still have a lot of progress to make offensively and defensively as a team," Van Riessen added, 'but obviously it's another good road win for us."

Marcedus Leech, Jr. led the Reivers with 23 points off the bench, while Vass and Balfour led the starters with 14 and 12 respectively.  Lawary added 13, giving the IW bench 43 of the 82 points scored.

Elijah Pickens had a great all-around game, scoring nine points to go along with eight rebounds and seven assists.

The Reivers will return home Wednesday night to face rival Indian Hills.  It will be the first meeting between the teams since the Reivers moved to Division II of the NJCAA.  The game will be broadcast on the Reiver Sports Network and can be followed by downloading the Scorevision Fan App or the live stats available here - https://www.goreivers.com/sports/mbkb/2020-21/boxscores/20210210_hmp8.xml

Follow the team on Twitter https://twitter.com/ReiverMBB or Instagram https://www.instagram.com/reivermbb/

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