Injuries are a tough part of sports, but it's too bad the Coe Kohawks cannot hit the rewind button and play Dubuque in the Iowa Conference men's basketball tournament with Jake Timm on the court.

The Kohawks lost to Dubuque, 71-59, in the semifinals of the IIAC tournament at Eby Fieldhouse Thursday night with their point guard and floor leader sitting at the end of the bench with a sprained ankle.

Timm averages 11.2 points, 5.6 rebounds, 4.5 assists and a ton of hustle for Coe. Other players tried admirably to fill the void, but the Kohawks were not the same club without him.

"It's a real tough break for us," said Coach Bryan Martin. "It's like losing an all-conference quarterback in football. It's the guy that runs everything."

Coe finished the season with a 16-10 record after tying Dubuque for second place in the regular-season standings. Dubuque (22-5) will host Wartburg (15-12) in the conference finals on Saturday.

Timm, a 6-foot-1 junior from Mount Vernon, sprained his right ankle during an 87-66 loss at Dubuque on Feb. 7. He tried to return Thursday night, but the ankle was too gimpy.

"We were hoping it would heal up enough and I could play on adrenaline today," he said. "But that's not how God had it designed.

"I could run a little bit today, but it wasn't to the point where I was going to be able to cut enough and I could be serviceable to the team."

The Kohawks struggled most of the night on offense. They shot only 36.8 percent from the floor and committed 16 turnovers (with only four assists).

The Kohawks normally average 73.4 points, and their 59 points Thursday were their second-lowest output of the season and their fewest points in league games.

Coe sorely missed Timm.

"At times he's their best player," said Dubuque Coach Robbie Sieverding. "He may not be the guy making the most shots, but he kind of makes things go for other people, so obviously that's a big loss.

"You take a player like Timm out of there, who's a true pint guard and creates shots, that's tough."

Timm encouraged his teammates from his chair at the end of the bench, but that's all he could.

"It was one of the hardest things," he remarked. "Not for me. I'm OK not playing games. Obviously it kills me not playing with this team, but I wanted to see these seniors go out on top.

"If I play maybe we win, maybe we don't. I'm not going to get into that right now. I'm not going to do that to myself or anybody else. It would have been nice to be out there tonight, but it happens."

The Kohawks fell behind by nine points in the first half, but pulled within 32-29 at halftime. The Spartans began the second half with an 11-2 spurt for a 43-31 advantage and the Kohawks never got closer than seven points again, the final time at 61-54 with 2:02 remaining.

"We had a hard time settling down," said Martin. "That can happen sometimes in tournament play. I think it got a little too emotional.

"Credit Dubuque," he said. "They never let us get comfortable on the offensive end. That was the difference. We couldn't get comfortable or get any rhythm on the offensive end."

Andre Norris, a quick 6-foot-7 junior from Plainfield, Ill., scored 21 points for Dubuque and was a matchup problem for the Kohawks all night. Gage Heffernan, who played his junior college basketball at Kirkwood, collected 15 points, eight rebounds and three steals for the Spartans.

Kain Arthofer also scored 15 points for the winners. Lucas Ware finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Max Schmarzo led Coe with 13 points. JT Vonderhaar scored 12 points. Matt Daoust contributed eight points and eight rebounds. Christian Fahey had eight points and seven rebounds.

DUBUQUE (71): Ferguson 1 2-3 4, Heffernan 5 5-8 15, Norris 7 6-8 21, Mohlis 0 0-0 0, L. Ware 4 5-5 13, Cooper 0 0-0 0, Arthofer 3 8-8 15, J. Ware 0 0 0-0 0, Morrisey 0 0-0 0, Cooke 1 0-0 3, Weber 0 0-0 0, T. Ware 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 26-32 71.

COE (59): Daoust 3 1-2 8, JT Vonderhaar 4 4-5 12, Fahey 3 2-4 8, Pyritz 1 0-0 2, M. Vonderhaar 2 1-1 6, Blumberg 0 0-0 0, Meyer 0 1-2 1, Wadsworth 2 1-2 5, Vorba 0 0-0 0, Shedeck 0 0-0 0, Stix 0 0-0 0, Miller 1 0-0 2, Schmarzo 5 1-2 13, Everhart 0 0-0 0, Delgado 0 2-3 2. Totals 21 13-21 59.

Halftime - Dubuque 32, Coe 29. 3-point goals - Dubuque 3 (Norris 1, Arthofer 1, Cooke 1), Coe 4 (Schmarzo 2, Daoust 1, M. Vonderhaar).