Box Score Illinois Wesleyan 69, North Central 57 - Box Score

CCIW Tournament Web Site

NAPERVILLE, Ill. - The Illinois Wesleyan men's basketball team claimed a 69-57 win over top-seed North Central in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin tournament semifinal on Friday, Feb. 25.

The Titans (now 19-7) will face No. 2-seed Augustana (23-3), a 73-58 winner over Wheaton on Friday night. IWU just topped the Vikings by two points (70-68) on Tuesday night at the Shirk Center.
The winner Saturday will earn the league's automatic bid into the NCAA Division III tournament. Illinois Wesleyan is hoping for its second straight and 20th overall NCAA tournament appearance in the 27 years of NCAA affiliation and have a 42-19 record in tournament play, including a national championship in 1997 and third place finishes in 1996, 2001 and 2006.

Against North Central in the semifinals, senior Doug Sexauer scored 22 points while junior John Koschnitzky added 18 and senior Sean Johnson contributed 14. Koschnitzky, who had a team high eight rebounds, scored in double figures for the first time since Jan. 29.

The Titans jumped out to a 17-7 lead, making four of their first five shots in the first six minutes. The Cardinals closed the gap to 17-15 with 9:57 left in the first half but IWU went on a 10-2 run (eight of those points coming from Sexauer) and led by as many as 11 points, getting a 36-27 edge at intermission.

North Central got off to a strong start in the second half, cutting IWU's lead to 36-32 in the first two minutes of the final period and battling back to tie the issue at 46-46 with 12:19 to play.

Sexauer then knocked in a 3-pointer and a layup on consecutive possessions, fueling a 13-2 run that gave Wesleyan a 59-48 lead with 7:38 left and went on to lead by as many as 14 points late.

The Cardinals (who fell to 15-11) were led by freshman standout Landon Gamble with 16 points, while C.J. Goldthree added 11 off the bench. Brian Evans collected a game-high nine rebounds.