It was the Beavers fifth-consecutive IIAC tournament title and sixth since the tourney’s inception in 1999. With the win, Buena Vista earns the league’s automatic bid to the postseason.
Jesse Schmidt and Rahn Franklin led a balanced Beaver offensive attack with 12 points. Seven of Buena Vista’s 11 players had six points or more.
Coe point guard Cory DeShaw led all scorers with 19 points. Mike Kilburg had 16 points and seven boards. Rob Hanna and Kyle Kuenstling added 10 points for Coe.
Buena Vista was the younger team, but still showed its postseason experience. The Beavers scored the first seven points, while Coe missed a pair of uncontested layups. The lead was 30-14 with five minutes to play in the first half.
The Kohawks, making their first trip to the championship game since 2000, trailed 40-30 at the break. The Beavers shot 58 percent in the first half and 48 percent for the game.
Solid defense drew Coe close in the second half. A Kilburg jumper at the 7:35 mark cut the lead to 52-51. A bucket by Nesha Francic, two free throws by Mark Joekel and back-to-back layups by Franklin and Brian Fogleman pushed the Buena Vista lead back to nine with four minutes to go.
Coe had two chances to tie in the closing seconds. Kuenstling missed a pair of 3’s, the final one on a catch-and-shoot from the top of the arc with 0.9 seconds left that bounced off the rim.
The Kohawks shot 43 percent from the field and were 6-for-20 from 3-point range. Brad Axdahl, Coe’s hero against Simpson Thursday, was limited to five shots and four points.
Newspaper Box Score Buena Vista University vs Coe College 02/25/06 7 p.m. at Cedar Rapids, Iowa - Eby Fieldhouse At Cedar Rapids, Iowa - Eby Fieldhouse BUENA VISTA UNIVERSITY 69, COE COLLEGE 66 BUENA VISTA UNIVERSITY (15-13) SCHMIDT, Jesse 5-11 2-3 12; FRANKLIN, Rahn 5-6 0-0 12; JOEKEL, Mark 2-5 3-4 8; FOGLEMAN, Brian 3-6 2-4 8; BISSEN, Jeff 2-6 2-3 7; FRANCIC, Nesha 3-5 0-0 6; WAGNER, Andre 2-6 2-2 6; PERSON, Travis 2-3 0-0 4; HOLTON, Eric 1-2 0-0 3; WITTRY, Matt 1-4 1-3 3; GRIMM, Nolan 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-54 12-19 69. COE COLLEGE (20-7) DESHAW, Cory 6-11 5-6 19; KILBURG, Mike 7-11 2-4 16; KUENSTLING, Kyle 3-12 4-6 10; HANNA, Rob 3-5 2-2 10; AXDAHL, Brad 1-5 1-2 4; YANSKY, Brandon 1-4 0-0 3; DILLON, Zach 1-2 0-0 2; PETERSEN, Kale 1-1 0-0 2; AKINS, Garrett 0-1 0-0 0; BREITBARTH, Aaron 0-1 0-0 0; KEHE, Chris 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-53 14-20 66. Buena Vista University........ 40 29 - 69 Coe College................... 30 36 - 66 3-point goals-Buena Vista University 5-15 (FRANKLIN, Rahn 2-2; HOLTON, Eric 1-1; BISSEN, Jeff 1-2; JOEKEL, Mark 1-4; PERSON, Travis 0-1; WITTRY, Matt 0-2; WAGNER, Andre 0-1; SCHMIDT, Jesse 0-2), Coe College 6-20 (HANNA, Rob 2-3; DESHAW, Cory 2-4; YANSKY, Brandon 1-3; AXDAHL, Brad 1-5; KUENSTLING, Kyle 0-5). Fouled out--Buena Vista University-None, Coe College-None. Rebounds-Buena Vista University 33 (BISSEN, Jeff 8), Coe College 29 (KILBURG, Mike 7). Assists-Buena Vista University 12 (WITTRY, Matt 4), Coe College 14 (KUENSTLING, Kyle 5). Total fouls-Buena Vista University 20, Coe College 15. A-1250 Iowa Conference Tournament Championship Game. Buena Vista earns IIAC's automatic bid to the postseason.