Jimmie men fall: Miscues doom JC in loss to Viterbo

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John M. Steiner / The Sun Jamestown College’s Taylor Newton (left) works to get around Viterbo’s Matt Turba during Friday night’s game at the Jamestown Civic Center.
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John M. Steiner / The Sun Jamestown College’s Davon Thomas slams one home during the Jimmies’ game vs. Viterbo on Friday night.

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Statistical struggles are not the main concern for Jamestown College basketball coach Justin Wieck.

With a new team still trying to put things together, the first-year leader of the Jimmies is more concerned with the little things.

The Jimmies fell short in those areas Friday night and a 63-55 loss to Viterbo (Wis.) at the Civic Center was the result.

“We’re not good enough to get outworked and to not play tough mentally. Those are things we’ve been harping on all week,” said a frustrated Wieck. “It’s really pretty simple. We have to do the little things a lot better than we did tonight.”

Viterbo got a big 27-point game from junior Cole Lewis. The V-Hawks (2-1) have struggled in recent years, but have a group now that has played together and learned.

“We’ve taken our lumps the last couple of seasons, but this team has grown together and I’d like to believe we have higher expectations,” said longtime Viterbo coach Wayne Wagner. “Last weekend, we didn’t play to the level we need to, tonight, against a quality team with a strong tradition, this was a lot better.”

The Jimmies’ task was made significantly tougher without leading scorer Mark Hoge, who was injured last weekend against Dordt (Iowa) and has now missed two straight games with a shoulder injury.

“That hurts (Mark Hoge), but injuries are a part of it that just makes it all the more important that we take care of the little things, the small details that are really important for us,” Wieck said.

The Jimmies (2-3) turned it over 19 times and had one long scoring drought in each half that totaled more than 15 minutes. They also missed seven of their nine free throw attempts.

Still, Davon Thomas had a solid 19-point night and Taylor Newton had another nice game with 13 points and eight rebounds.

“We did some good things, but the bottom line is we weren’t consistent enough,” Wieck said. “We’ll keep working hard. That’s all we can do.”

The Jimmies head to Sioux Falls tonight to play Augustana in an exhibition game, meaning it won’t count towards their win-loss record.

Viterbo (Wis.) 63, Jamestown College 55

Viterbo 26 37 — 63

Jamestown College 26 29 — 55

Viterbo — Alex Koeller 2, Cole Lewis 27, Izac Sheforgen 6, Matt Turba 12, Peter Drummond 2, Sekou Moore 2, Jordan Laufenberg 12. Totals: 22-57 FG, Three-pointers: 5-9 (Laufenberg 2, Lewis 2, Turba) 14-19 FT, 36 Rebounds (Lewis 6), 13 Fouls, 13 Assists (Turba 3, Jasper Duberry 3), 10 Turnovers, 5 Steals (Sheforgen 3).

Jamestown College — Jared Sutherland 5, Dan Janu 4, Breshion Tucker 6, Taylor Newton 13, Davon Thomas 19, Andre Maund 6, Beny Collins 2. Totals: 22-53 FG, Three-pointers: 9-23 (Newton 3, Thomas 2, Maund 2), 2-9 FT, 36 Rebounds (Thomas 8), 19 Fouls, 11 Assists (Newton 8), 19 Turnovers, 2 Blocked shots (Stemen, Jan), 4 Steals (Thomas 2).

Tags: sports, jimmies, basketball