WAVERLY, Iowa – The Coe College men's basketball team picked up its fourth-straight win on Wednesday evening with a 79-63 come from behind victory over Wartburg. The Kohawks trailed by double-digits early in the first half but fought back to cut the deficit to three points at the break. Coe then outscored Wartburg 43-24 in the second half while shooting 59.3 percent from the floor and 50.0 percent from downtown. Coe improves to 12-7 overall and 7-3 in the American Rivers Conference while Wartburg drops to 7-12 overall and 3-7 in the league. 
 
Seniors Austin Roth (19 points, 4 assists, 2 blocks and 1 steal) and Tommy Hook (15 points and 2 steals) led the Kohawks while fellow senior TJ Kaufmann joined them in double-figures with 12 points on four shots while going 3-of-3 from downtown.  
 
The Knights got off to a great start in game number two of the league home-and-home series, opening a 12-2 lead over the first three and a half minutes of play behind long-distance jumpers from Jack Molstead and Camry Moore. Coe settled into the game around the 15 minute mark of the first half allowing the Kohawks to slowly cut into the Knights lead with a 19-10 run over an eight-plus minute stretch to get within one point. During the run, the Kohawks hit four 3s including three from Hook and one from Roth. 
 
Wartburg then responded with a run of its own, knocking down three 3s while outscoring Coe 13-5 to stretch its lead back to nine points with 3:53 left in the first half. Coe again cut into the Wartburg lead, this time with a quarter-ending 10-4 run which cut the deficit to 39-36 at the break. 
 
Coe opened the second half trailing by 3 after Greg Hall cut the Wartburg lead to end the second half but the Kohawks outscored the Knights 24-10 over the first eight-plus minutes to overtake the lead at 60-49. The Kohawks got multiple contributions over the spurt including eight points from Roth and five points from Jacob Robertson and Josh Schmitt. 
 
Coach Martin's team continued to build upon its lead for the next five minutes of game-time, ripping off a 15-6 outburst which featured points from seven different players. The stretch pushed the Kohawk lead out to 18 points with just under seven minutes to play and despite Wartburg's effort, Coe remained poised and saw out the final few minutes of the game. 
 
Up next: The Kohawks will rest this week and then return to Cedar Rapids for another A-R-C matchup with Nebraska Wesleyan at 7:30 p.m. 
 
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