DUBUQUE, Iowa - The Coe College men's basketball team came up just short on Thursday evening, falling 73-63 in the A-R-C semifinals to top-seeded Dubuque. The Spartans scored the game's first 11 points but the Kohawks continued to battle for the remainder of the contest, getting as close as four points to the Spartan lead. Despite the effort from Coe, UD hung on to clinch the victory and advance to the A-R-C Championship game. The loss ends the season for the Kohawks who finished with a record of 6-5 overall and 3-4 in the league.
It was a balanced night offensively for Coe with four players recording nine-plus points.
Jarad Kruse again led the squad with 15 points, adding eight rebounds, six assists, one block and one steal.
Cael Schmitt posted 10 points, dishing out six dimes and grabbing two boards. Junior
Jacob Robertson had a career-high 16 rebounds in the contest, adding nine points, two steals and one block.
Ray Thrapp chipped in with nine points, three boards, one assist and one block.
Dubuque got off to a great start, scoring the first 11 points of the game to hold the double-digit advantage. Coe got on the board thanks to a layup from
Ray Thrapp but UD fired back with another 3 from Peter Ragen, his third in the opening five minutes. The Kohawks settled into the contest but were unable to string together defensive stops as they traded buckets with the Spartans. Following a layup from Ragen, Coe scored three-straight buckets, cutting the deficit to six points with 3:47 left in the half. The squads exchanged blows for the remaining moments of the period as the Spartans led 31-25 after one half.
The seesawing action remained present in the second half as the squads traded buckets for the opening three-plus minutes of the period but the Spartans used a 7-0 stretch to take control. The Kohawks answered right back, scoring seven unanswered points of their own which was capped off by a Kruse jam. UD continued to answer the Coe comeback effort, getting a 3 from Carter Stevens and four-straight points to retake a 55-43 lead.
The Kohawks would slowly begin to chip away at the lead, using a 16-9 stretch, over nearly eight minutes of game time to get within five points with 2:50 to play. On the next Spartan possession, Brock Simon made a layup and converted a free throw attempt to push their lead back to eight. Coe refused to go away in the final two minutes, getting buckets from Robertson and Schmitt but the Spartans hit their free throws to secure the win.
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