Box Score North Park 70, Illinois Wesleyan 67 - Box Score, Feb. 20

CHICAGO, Ill. - The Illinois Wesleyan men's basketball team failed to score in the final 2:37 of the game and lost its regular season finale, 70-67, at North Park on Feb. 20.

The Titans fell to 19-6 overall and finished 10-4 in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin, tying for second with Wheaton, who will be their first round foe in the CCIW tourney next Friday, Feb. 26. The Titans and Thunder will play at 5 p.m. in the first semifinal game in Kenosha, Wis., while league champion Carthage will meet Augustana in the 7:30 p.m. game.
The winners will play for the NCAA Division III tournament automatic entry at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 27. Go here for the CCIW men's basketball tourney web page.

North Park led by as many as 11 with 5:48 to play in the first half and took a 43-33 edge into the locker room at intermission. The Titans battled back to hold a five-point lead (57-52) with 9:17 to play in the game, and the match was tied at 63-63 with 5:21 left. A basket by junior Doug Sexauer with 4:03 left gave IWU a 65-63 lead and was the final basket scored by Illinois Wesleyan in the game.

Davone Robinson drained a 3-pointer to give the Vikings a 66-65 lead before junior Sean Johnson made two free throws to put the Titans back on top, 67-66 with 2:37 left. Two baskets by the Vikings' Jorge Gonzalez late gave NPU a 70-67 lead and late shot attempts by IWU were blocked by Nick Williams and Shaun Collins.

Johnson led IWU with 24 points and Sexauer added 15. Junior Edmond O'Callaghan led IWU with six rebounds as the Titans lost the rebound battle, 35-25.

The Titans, who are ranked No. 27 in the weekly D3hoops.com poll, shot 48 percent from the field (23 of 48) and connected on 15 of 20 free throw tries (75 percent). North Park shot 46 percent (23 of 50) and also hit 75 percent of its free throw tries (18 of 24). The Titans were six of 17 (35 percent) and the Vikings were six of 16 (38 percent) from beyond the 3-point arc.

Roshawn Russell scored 15 to lead North Park while Gonzalez added 14 with nine rebounds and Williams scored 13 with seven boards. Robinson also scored in double figures with 11 points for North Park, who finish their season 13-12 overall and 7-7 in the league.