MOUNT PLEASANT – William Penn University shot 52.1% from the field and owned play inside, defeating the Iowa Wesleyan College men’s basketball team 93-62 Wednesday night at Ruble Arena.
The Statesmen out-rebounded IWC 48-30 and scored 52 points in the paint, opening it up in the second half to win the Midwest Collegiate Conference opener for both teams. William Penn, ranked 24th in the most recent NAIA Division II national coaches’ poll, improved to 10-3 this year while the Tigers fell to 4-7 overall.
Penn broke the game open late in the first half after a close first 15 minutes. The teams were tied twice and swapped the lead four times in the first 10 minutes before Penn went ahead for good at 15-13 with 11:27 left in the first half.
William Penn used a late 16-6 run just before halftime to go ahead 42-26 just before the break. The Statesmen led 42-28 at halftime, and after Wesleyan cut the deficit to 12 at 44-32 with 19:00 remaining in the game, Penn started to extend the lead. A 11-1 spurt gave the Statesmen a 55-33 lead with 15:30 remaining, and the Tigers would get no closer than 17 points the rest of the way.
Reggie Shipp (Jr.-Aurora, Ill.) scored 20 points to lead the Tigers, making eight of 16 field goals. Weldon Miller (Jr.-San Rafael, Calif.) added 10 points and a team-high seven rebounds off the bench.
IWC shot 39.3% for the game, making 24 of 61 field goals. The Tigers struggled from three-point range as well, shooting 20 % (4-for-20), and also were 10 of 19 from the free throw line (52.6%).
William Penn made 37 of 71 field goal attempts, including 19 of 34 (55.9%) in the second half. Jesse DeGeest and Joel Stout combined for 42 points to lead the Statesmen, with DeGeest scoring 22 and Stout adding 20. The Statesmen defeated IWC for the first time since 2007, snapping the Tigers' four-game winning streak in the series.
The Tigers next face Clarke College on Saturday in Dubuque at 3 p.m. in another MCC game. An online audio broadcast will be available at www.iwc.edu/onlinemedia.
For more information regarding the IWC basketball programs or any of the Tiger athletic teams, contact sports information director Adam Glatczak (319-385-6306 phone; 319-385-6384 FAX; aglatczak@iwc.edu e-mail) or log on to IWC's athletics web site at www.iwc.edu/athletics.
Box score #24 WPU 93 IWC 62
