Teamwork Shines Over Weekend

Dubuque, IA - This weekend, the Eagles battled against the Central Christian College of the Bible Saints and the Moody Bible Institute Archers. Friday night the Eagles cruised to a 75-55 victory over CCCB by trusting the offense, keeping good team defense, and playing unselfishly. The Eagles had 24 assists on 31 made field goals. Freshman Trevor Donnelly led the team with 6 assists. Matthew Tomlinson and Skyler Sandry both had 5 assists. The men were off to a slow start, but consistently built on their lead. The Eagles were lead in scoring by Skyler Sandry (20), Caleb Ruter also added 19 points, and Trevor Donnelly had a solid night with 14 points. Almost every Eagle scored in this game. When asked about scoring his first college field goal, freshman Mitch Patzka had this to say. "It felt pretty exciting knowing that I had support of fans for such a small contribution to our win." 

The Eagles won big Friday night, but knew they had a tough game the next day. Saturday afternoon they would face Moody Bible Institute in a home rivalry game, which ended up being a nail biter. 

Before warming up on saturday, Coach Wilkerson told his team to stay calm, play hard, play smart, play together, and stick to the game plan. He also told his team that he believed they were the better team and deserved to win this game. The Eagles came out playing strong defense and excellent team basketball, which led to a half time lead. The team finished with 20 assists on 22 field goals. It was a tough offensive night as there were only two Eagles with double figures (Caleb Ruter 23, Skyler Sandry 16) and the third leading scorer added 6 points. Going into the break, the Eagles had a 31-21 lead and were feeling confident. At the beginning of the second half, the Eagles came out of the locker room and built their lead up to 16, but Moody picked up their defensive intensity, continued to pound the ball down low, and played a triangle and two on Skyler Sandry and Caleb Ruter. Moody kept chipping away from the Eagles lead, and with both Nathan Davidson and Trevor Donnelly fouling out with over five minutes left to play, the Eagles did not have an answer for T. Frank, who finished with 29 points and 10 rebounds. Despite foul trouble and a rough shooting half, the Eagles had the ball with 11 seconds left and only down by three. Coach Wilkerson called a timeout and drew up a solid play, which led to a three point attempt that hit the back of the rim, but missed the net. The Eagles fought hard, but ended up losing 65-62. After the loss, the Eagles fall to 8-8 on the season with a tough game coming up on Tuesday against the Faith Eagles.