The Blackburn College men's basketball team won their season opener against conference opponent Iowa Wesleyan. The game took place at Blackburn College in Carlinville, Illinois. The final score was 81-61. 

The Beavers took the lead early and kept the lead for the entire game. Senior Javon Stovall opened the scoring with a layup, followed by senior Chanz Aldridge draining a three to give the Beavers an early lead. Stovall led the Beavers with 21 points, as well as three assists. Aldridge finished with 18 points, and three assists of his own. 

Junior David Lopez finished with 14 points. Lopez shot five three-pointers in the game, draining four of them. Senior Bryson Kirby was a key weapon all around for the Beavers, tallying up high totals in every stat category. He tallied three rebounds, six points, and six assists, leading the team in assists. Junior Christian Wagner was a key component for the Beavers as well, with ten rebounds as well as four steals. Stovall was also a defensive weapon in the game, getting four steals of his own. 

Iowa Wesleyan struggled to break through the strong defense of Blackburn. Alex Dentlinger led the Tigers with 16 points. He also had a block, as well as seven rebounds. Kaleb Cresswell finished with eleven points, and seven assists. Jarryd Fernandes finished with nine points, and both Marvin Saintolien as well as David Seber finished with eight points. 

The Beavers out-rebounded the Tigers 37-30. As a team, the Beavers racked up 15 steals, and forced 22 turnovers from the Tigers. 

Javon Stovall stuck around for a brief interview following his impressive performance in the season opener. 

"It had been over 365 days since our last game, our guys were real excited in the locker room before the game." said Stovall. "We had a lot of energy coming into the game, so it felt really good to get back out there."

Stovall led the Beavers in points. He noted that while he had the most points, he doesn't ever think of his own scoring during the game. 

"I take what the defense gives me." said Stovall. "My other teammates got going early, like Bryson and Chanz, which gives me energy to feed off of throughout the game."

With this game, the Beavers move to an overall record of 1-0 in the SLIAC. The Beavers will travel to Eureka College next Wednesday, March 3rd, to take on the Eureka Red Devils. The game is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. The Beavers will be looking for another solid game out of Stovall to jump ahead in the SLIAC standings.