The Coe men's basketball team finished with an 11-15 record last season, but the Kohawks were not far away from doing much better than that.

The Kohawks were outscored by a slim margin, 72.9 to 71.6, and they lost the rebounding battle by a small differential of 35.3 to 34.2 per game. The Kohawks had fewer turnovers than their opponents, more steals and just as many assists.

"It seems like we became the kind of the two-possession losses. And our guys are well-aware of that," third-year coach Bryan Martin said Friday. "These guys are hungry for success this year. They're motivated by last year.

"Our league is that way," he remarked. "It comes down to a couple of possessions almost every game."

Coe will face the Drake Bulldogs in an exhibition game Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Knapp Center in Des Moines, pitting an NCAA Division III team from the Iowa Conference against an NCAA Division I club from the Missouri Valley Conference. Martin plans to use the media timeouts to his advantage and break the game into 10 four-minute segments.

"Our goal is to win half of those," he said. "In general, we want to compete for 40 minutes.

"We know they're bigger and stronger and faster, but we can do the things that we can control. We can guard, we can rebound, we can execute on 'O.' We think no matter what the outcome tomorrow, it's going to prepare us and help us get better."

Coe graduated Andrew Wirth, the top scorer from last year at 15.8 points, but JT Vonderhaar (12.2 points), Max Schmarzo (8.8), Matt Daoust (8.7), Christian Fahey (6.8) and point guard Jake Timm (5.1) all have considerable starting experience and return. Matt Vonderhaar, Sam Stix, Lincoln Vorba, Brian Wadsworth and Sean Pyritz all played more than 100 minutes last year.

"In our league, you typically win with experienced juniors and seniors," said Martin. "And we've got a lot of those this year, as opposed to a year ago."

The Kohawks finished 3-11 in the Iowa Conference last season and Martin thinks the league will be tough again with Buena Vista, Dubuque, Central and Loras the teams to beat at this stage.

Martin said JT Vonderhaar, Daoust, Timm and Fahey are likely starters against Drake Saturday, with Matt Vonderhaar, Schmarzo and Vorba still vying for the final spot in the backcourt. Caleb Miller, a 6-foot-6 center, will be sidelined until late December with a foot injury.

Martin likes Timm at point guard. "He just makes guys better," the coach said.

Martin thinks JT Vonderhaar and Daoust could be the leading scorers this season, but he thinks six or seven players are capable of reaching double figures on any given night.

"I think the key for us, quite honestly, is to have some balanced scoring," he said. "That was one of our weaknesses last year. We relied so much on Andrew Wirth."

Coe will open the regular season at Wisconsin-Platteville on Saturday, Nov. 15, at the Platteville Tipoff Tournament.

ROSTER

Sean Pyritz, 6-0, Sr., Naperville, Ill.
JC Ditch, 6-1, Frosh, Anamosa
Jonathan Blumberg, 6-2, Jr, Charles City
Josh Jirak, 6-2, Soph, Center Point
Jacob Timm, 6-1, Jr., Mount Vernon
Matt Vonderhaar, 6-4, Soph, Davenport Assumption
Matt Daoust, 6-4, Sr., Minnetrista, Minn.
Matt Meyer, 6-0, Frosh, Mason City
Brian Wadsworth, 6-3, Sr., Elk Grove, Ill.
Lincoln Vorba, 6-2, Jr., Mason City
Marshall Shedeck, 6-5, Soph, Oxford Junction
Hunter Pflughaupt, 6-3, Soph, North Linn
Conor Bernhard, 6-2, Sr., Byron, Ill.
JT Vonderhaar, 6-5, Sr., Davenport Assumption
Christian Fahey, 6-6, Jr., Waukon
Sam Stix, 6-7, Sr., Lake St. Louis, Mo.
Caleb Miller, 6-6, Sr., Sterling, Ill.
Max Schmarzo, 6-2, Sr., Palo Alto, Calif.
Alex Everhart, 6-8, Sr., Warrensboro, Mo.
Josh Piotrowski, 6-0, Frosh, Bollingbrook, Ill.
David Delgado, 6-5, Sr., Arlington Heights, Ill.
Denis Wagner, 5-9, Soph, Toowoomba, Australia
CJ Nelson, 5-8, Frosh, CR Washington
Jordan O'Neil, 5-10, Jr., West Branch