The Blackburn College Men's Basketball Team led by as many as 13 points in the game on three different occasions, but could not sustain the lead in a disappointing 88-85 St. Louis Intercollegiate Athetic Conference defeat to Iowa Wesleyan on Saturday afternoon in Carlinville.  Blackburn committed a season-high 23 turnovers in the contest.  The Beavers after their double-digit first half lead, took a 48-43 lead into the locker room at the half.  After a back and forth first seven minutes of the second half, the Beavers went on a 7-0 run to take a 67-54 lead with 11:29 to go in the game.  The Tigers chipped away at the lead over the next ten minutes before taking a 82-80 lead with a 1:05 to play on a three-pointer by Jake Neubauer.  The Beavers turned the ball over on their next two possessions and Iowa Wesleyan made six of their final eight free throws to win their first game of the year and pull off the upset.

The Beavers placed five players into double figure scoring led by Duncan King with 14 points.  Jake Lochhead and Malcolm Scott added 13 each while Reed Rusten had eleven and Jamaya Wyatt ten.  Brock Butler scored 29 for Iowa Wesleyan to lead all scorers, while Mitchell Drey added 24 points.

Both teams shot over 50 percent for the contest with Blackburn shooting 52 percent on 34 of 65 shooting and the Tigers shot 54 percent on 30 of 56.

The loss drops the Beavers out of sole possession of first place in the SLIAC at 3-1 in the conference and 5-2 overall.  Iowa Wesleyan is now 1-9 overall and 1-3 in the league.

Blackburn will travel to Dubuque, Iowa to take on Loras College on Tuesday night.