So what does a "good" win mean?

It means the Ants won a game it could have just as easily lost.

They beat Iowa on Friday 108-101 by making the defensive plays in the final moments.

They won because they played harder (sometimes, not smarter).

They won because veteran guards Ron Howard and Walker Russell Jr. got help.

This isn't the prettiest team the Ants have ever had, but they played hard to the very end - something that coach Duane Ticknor promised when he took the job.

The Ants had 20 assists on 37 buckets, which is good considering the 1-on-1 nature of the pro game. But they also had 17 steals, which shows an aggressive edge on defense - and 9 blocked shots to Iowa's 1.

Howard had 21 points and Russell had 14, but Sadiel Rojas, JaJuan Johnson and Darryl Partin had 16 each, and Mike Anderson had 11.