Rally Falls Short as Statesmen Lose to Iowa Wesleyan

Mount Pleasant--The William Penn men's basketball team dropped a back-and-forth dog fight with Iowa Wesleyan 85-81 in non-conference play Tuesday.

William Penn (4-2) shot just 40.3% on the night, while Iowa Wesleyan (9-1) hit 44.6% of its tries. The visitors did shoot better from the perimeter, however, holding a 32.0%-27.3% edge over the Tigers.  One of the most telling things about the game, though, came at the free-throw line as IWU went 21-for-25, while the Statesmen made just 14 of their 24 shots.

WPU held a 20-18 lead with nine minutes left in the first half, but the Tigers would take it right back, eventually going up by 12 at one point, 37-25.  Three-pointers by Daniel Autrey (Jr., Detroit, Mich., Business Management) and Rodrigo Soares (So., Dallas, Texas, Sports Management) would help cut into the deficit, making it 42-37 in favor of IWU going into halftime.

William Penn stormed out of the second half as a Chanze Cruesoe (Jr., St. Louis, Mo., Business Management) layup put the visiting squad up 50-48. That unfortunately would be the Statesmen's last lead as Iowa Wesleyan went on a 13-0 run to extend the lead to 61-50. WPU refused to go down easy, though, as it fought back into the game with an 11-2 run, carving the lead down to just three at 70-67.

Staying close, William Penn pulled within two at 83-81 in the waning seconds on a Autrey trifecta (83-81). Coming out of the timeout, Malik Edwards (Fr., Drexel Hill, Pa., Business Management) stole the ball, but Autrey gave the ball back to the Tigers on his own turnover.  The Tigers once again were forced into a turnover by WPU, leading to a Statesmen timeout. Out of the timeout, the visitors ran a play for Cruesoe, who was trying to get the ball to Edwards, but Edwards slipped as the ball was passed to him and the turnover sealed the game for Iowa Wesleyan, which made two free throws on the other end.

Edwards led WPU in scoring with 23 points, while also chipping in six rebounds. Cruesoe added in 13 points with six boards, while James Pennington (Sr., Chicago, Ill.) had nine points and six boards.  Eddie Daley (Grad., DeWitt, Mich., Master's of Organizational Leadership) recorded eight points in the setback.

Soares chipped in with 10 points and 5 rebounds off the bench, while Autrey contributed nine points.  Cruesoe and Soares each finished with four assists, while Cruesoe and Edwards tallied two steals each.

Each team had 16 turnovers, while the Statesmen were outrebounded 42-35.

Up Next: The Statesmen will open up Heart of America Athletic Conference play Saturday, traveling to Marshall, Mo. to face Missouri Valley at 4 p.m.