CANCUN – The Iowa men’s basketball team finally faced some tough competition Thanksgiving night in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament, as a testy Xavier team lead Iowa until the Hawkeyes forced an overtime session that they found a way to win.
Iowa trailed Xavier by as many as 15 points with about 15 minutes to play 12 points with just over 10 minutes to play when a 12-0 run knotted the score to end regulation.
Iowa’s Devyn Marble helped the Iowa cause down the stretch with 2 key three-pointers, and scored a game-high 30 points.
“GREAT team win tonight,” Marble tweeted after the game. “That game was crazyyyyy. Got to get ready and prepare for tomorrow’s game.”
Marble had 2 asts to go along with his 30 pts. Marble joins Dean Oliver and Jeff Horner as the only Iowa players with 1200 pts, 300 asts, 350 rebounds.
Gabriel Olaseni had 10 points and a game-high 11 rebounds – his first career double-double.
Iowa did not lead in the contest until the 4:06 mark in overtime.
Tonight marked Iowa’s first overtime win since March 7, 2009, against Penn State.
Iowa improved to 6-0 for the first time since 2003-04 season.
Iowa faces the winner of the Tennessee / UTEP game.
