Coe Men's Basketball

Coe pushes Drake in exhibition

DES MOINES - The Coe men's basketball team got Drake's attention in an exhibition game before 3,134 fans at the Knapp Center in Des Moines Saturday.

The Kohawks led the Bulldogs, 33-32, at halftime, a rare feat for an NCAA Division III club against a Division I outfit.

Drake came alive in the second half and outscored the Kohawks, 46-20, to pull away for a 78-53 victory.

JT Vonderhaar and Max Schmarzo paced Coe with 11 points apiece. Jake Timm collected nine points and five assists for the Kohawks.

Gary Ricks hit five 3-pointers and scored 24 points for Drake.

Kohawks facing Drake in exhibition game

The Coe men's basketball team finished with an 11-15 record last season, but the Kohawks were not far away from doing much better than that.

The Kohawks were outscored by a slim margin, 72.9 to 71.6, and they lost the rebounding battle by a small differential of 35.3 to 34.2 per game. The Kohawks had fewer turnovers than their opponents, more steals and just as many assists.

"It seems like we became the kind of the two-possession losses. And our guys are well-aware of that," third-year coach Bryan Martin said Friday. "These guys are hungry for success this year. They're motivated by last year.

"Our league is that way," he remarked. "It comes down to a couple of possessions almost every game."

Coe will face the Drake Bulldogs in an exhibition game Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Knapp Center in Des Moines, pitting an NCAA Division III team from the Iowa Conference against an NCAA Division I club from the Missouri Valley Conference. Martin plans to use the media timeouts to his advantage and break the game into 10 four-minute segments.

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4 Coe cagers heading to Brazil

For the second straight year, Coe College will be represented on the USA Basketball Division III teams on a tour of Brazil.

On the men's team, seniors-to-be Max Schmarzo and JT Vonderhaar will be among the 10 players. Coe Coach Bryan Martin will serve as the head coach of the team.

Vonderhaar averaged 12.2 points and 5.0 rebounds in his junior campaign for the Kohawks. Schmarzo averaged 8.8 points.

For the women, junior-to-be Allie Wirth has been selected for the trip. Wirth is the only player from the Iowa Conference on the team. She led the Kohawks with 6.0 rebounds per game while also having a team-high 89 assists.

The tour begins July 21 as both teams travel to Orlando, Fla., for training. On July 22, the teams depart the United States for Sao Paulo, Brazil. On July 23, 24 and 25, the teams will play doubleheaders in the state of Sao Paulo against selected teams from the region.

Both teams will travel to Rio de Janeiro on July 26 and play another doubleheader on July 28. Both teams depart Brazil July 29.

While in Brazil the teams will experience educational, cultural and social aspects of Brazilian life through city, school and sports club visits. While in Rio the team will be staying on the famous Copacabana Beach and touring the Christ the Redeemer Statue and Sugar Loaf, two of the most recognizable landmarks in the world.

Loras men avoid Wirth Fever

A picture may be worth one thousand words, but only two words are needed to describe the Iowa Conference season finale game Saturday night at Eby Fieldhouse between Coe and Loras: Wirth Fever.

Loras (15-10, 8-6) may have won the game, beating Coe (11-14, 3-11) 82-75, but the theme of this game started even before the men stepped foot on the court.

As the last home game, Coe honored Andrew Wirth, the only senior player on the team.  He stood in the middle of the court with his family as Coach Bryan Martin presented him with a black shirt that read Wirth Fever.

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