The IUS men’s basketball season ended on Thursday, March 10, in Point Lookout, Mo., when the Grenadiers lost in the first round of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics National Tournament to No. 14 Iowa Wesleyan College, 86-75.
Despite not meeting the ultimate goal of winning a national title, the Grenadier men’s team has accomplished many things individually and also as a team during this season.
IU Southeast finished the season with a 21-11 overall record and an 11-2 Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference record.
The conference record was enough to give the Grenadiers a share of the regular season conference title and the top overall seed for the KIAC tournament.
Players’ awards and
accomplishments
Jazzmarr Ferguson, senior guard, broke the all-time leading scoring record for IU Southeast on Thursday, Feb. 24, by scoring 31 points on 12 of 19 shooting from the field against Brescia in the KIAC semifinal win over against Brescia.
Ferguson surpassed Mitchell Speedy’s total of 1,981 points.
“Right now, it’s the most special thing in the world to me,” Ferguson said after breaking the scoring record. “I take pride in saying that I played for this university.”
Ferguson ended his IUS career with 2,040 points and was honored on Thursday, Feb. 24, as the KIAC Conference Player of the Year.
Ferguson averaged 23.8 points per game during the conference regular season, the highest in all of the KIAC.
Two other Grenadiers were named to the KIAC All-Conference Team. Rick Bodiford, senior guard, and Darryl Bell, junior guard, were honored as members of the 10-person all-conference team along with Ferguson.
Bodiford averaged 17.2 points per game and 7.3 rebounds per game during conference play, and Bell averaged 12.2 points per game.
IUS team wins fourth-straight KIAC
championship
The Grenadiers took home their fourth-consecutive KIAC Championship by defeating IU East, 91-85, on Feb. 26.
IU Southeast beat St. Louis College of Pharmacy 91-48 in the opening round of the tournament, then cruised by Brescia 108-70 on the way to avenging a loss from the week before at IU East in the KIAC Final.
“Our non-conference schedule is tough,” IUS head coach Wiley Brown said, “and that’s what prepared us for this win. We lost two games in our conference this year, and when you’ve played in four conference championships in a row, you know everyone is gunning for you. We kept attacking.”
NAIA Division II Championship
The Grenadiers’ season ended with a loss in the opening round of the national tournament to Iowa Wesleyan College.
In the 11-point loss, Ferguson and Bodiford were the only two Grenadiers in double figures. Ferguson had a team-high 28 points on 10 of 22 shooting from the field and 5 of 14 shooting from 3-point range. Bodiford had 17 points on 6 of 14 shooting to go along with 7 rebounds.
As a team, IU Southeast was held to under 40-percent shooting from the field while Iowa Wesleyan was just shy of 50 percent.
Both teams shot under 30 percent from 3-point range in the opening-round game of the tournament.
By BRENT KULWICKI
Staff
bkulwick@ius.edu
