The Southwestern Spartans knew they'd be in for a battle on Saturday, Jan. 13, but their afternoon matchup with Iowa Lakes was even more stressful than they had hoped.

Khallid Edwards hadn't made a field goal the entire second half of Saturday's game. At the end of regulation, he dribbled the length of the court and hit a 22-footer with 2.3 seconds remaining to tie the score at 78. Iowa Lakes missed a desperation heave at the buzzer and couldn't regroup, as Southwestern dominated the overtime frame to win the game 91-81.

"We wanted the ball in his [Edwards] hands to make a play for himself or a teammate," said Spartan Head Coach Todd Lorensen. "It was a big-time player making a big-time shot."

After a sluggish start, where the Lakers scored the first eight points of the game, Southwestern went on a 24-5 run over the next 10 plus minutes to lead 24-13. Their largest lead was 29-17 with six minutes to play in the half, but throughout the rest of the half, Iowa Lakes made a run of their own to cut the lead to 32-30 at the break.

A barrage of D'Marqueyon Whittington three's pushed the Spartans ahead midway into the second half. From there it was back and forth until Iowa Lakes led prior to Edwards' shot. Despite it being the conference opener, it was an important matchup of teams who have competed for the league crown the past two seasons.

"Every game is important," explained Lorensen. "I feel the league is as balanced as ever so there are no nights off.  It will be fun to see it play out."

Gatdoar Kueth paced the offense with 20 points. Terence Shelby, Jr. and Whittington had 16 each. Edwards had 13 points and a team-high five assists while Alijah Thomas had 10 points.

Southwestern is now 14-3 overall and 1-0 in ICCAC play. They return to action on Wednesday, Jan. 17, at Iowa Central Community College in an NJCAA DII top-10 matchup.  Southwestern is ranked #9 while the Tritons are #7.