Men’s Basketball Cruised Passed Wartburg with a Second Half Double Up on Opening Day
Lamoni, Iowa – The Graceland University Men's Basketball team opened their season against the Wartburg College Knights. The YellowJackets defeated the Knights, 82-59. Starting the season 1-0.
Graceland (18-10; 13-9) | Wartburg (20-8; 15-7)
Half 1: Graceland 40 | MidAmerica Nazarene 39
The Knights would lead early into the half (11-8), Aleksa Markovic would even the score with a basket from the arch (11-11), and Carson Busch would follow with back-to-back threes (17-11). Wartburg would retaliate to retake the lead. Graceland would answer with a 10-point rally, taking the one-point advantage (34-33); Patrick Fisher, Sylvester Union, and Markovic would contribute. With just under one-minute remaining, Fisher would close the deficit to one point from a layup, and Austin Braun would add to the advantage with two points from the charity stripe. Graceland would head into the half leading by one (40-39).
Half 2: Graceland 42 | Wartburg 20
The Yellowjackets would find their fire, adding a 15-0 run in the first five minutes of the second half; the Knights would break the run with a jumper (55-41). Carson Busch (two points), Darrius Davis (10 points), and Aleksa Markovic (three points) would contribute. The Yellowjackets would add an eight-point jump (65-44) from Amitai Afenjar (five points) and Carter Brown (three points). The Yellowjacket would hold their highest lead over the Knights with 14 points (74-50). Graceland would hold Wartburg to just 20 points in the second half, doubling their points with 42 to take home the 82-59 victory. Mario Johnson would close the game with a layup.
By the numbers:
32-22 – The Yellowjackets had 32 field goals compared to the Wartburg 22
9-9 – Both teams sank nine three pointers
47-33 – Graceland had 14 more rebounds than Wartburg
40-12 – Graceland would score 40 points in the paint compared to Wartburg 12
29-29 – The Yellowjacket's bench sank one more basket than the Knight's bench
Graceland Leaders:
Scoring Leader: Aleksa Markovic – 24
Rebounding Leader: Aleksa Markovic – 8
Assist Leader: Austin Braun – 11
Steal Leader: Austin Braun / Patrick Fisher / Aleksa Markovic – 3
Wartburg Leaders:
Scoring Leader: Luke Ladwig – 13
Rebounding Leader: Trent Allard – 5
Assist Leader: Jalen Miller / Trent Allard – 3
Steal Leader: Marshun Williams / Isaac Besh – 2
Up Next:
The Men's Basketball team will be back on the Wednesday, November 1 when they host the Harris-Stowe State University Hornets. Tip-off is set for 2:30 pm.
-Yellowjackets-