Box Score U. of St. Thomas 78, Illinois Wesleyan 70 -
Box Score
ST. PAUL, Minn - The Illinois Wesleyan men's basketball season came to an end with a 78-70 loss to No. 8-ranked St. Thomas in the second round of the NCAA Division III tournament at Schoenecker Arena in St. Paul. Minn. The Titans finish with a 20-9 record.
Senior guard
Sean Johnson scored 20 points and junior forward
John Koschnitzky added 15 points and 10 boards for the Titans, who had a 20-win season for the second year in a row and for the 22nd time in school history.
The Titans were 23-of-48 from the field (.479) and made six-of-18 3-point field goal tries (.333). IWU hit 18-of-26 free throw tries (.692) and held a 32-25 rebound edge in the game.
Senior guard Tyler Nicolai hit three 3-pointers to fuel a 21-6 run late in the first half to erase the last Titan lead. Illinois Wesleyan pulled within five points on an insde basket by junior
Ryan Connolly with :06 to go in the half, but Nicolai raced up court and drained a long 3-pointer at the buzzer to extend the lead back to eight at halftime.
The Titans never got closer than six points in the second half and the Tommies, who are 15-1 at home this season and 7-0 since Feb. 12, made 13-of-17 foul shots in the final six minutes to hold on.
St. Thomas shot .520 from the floor (26 of 50) and had only 10 turnovers while converting 20-of-26 foul shots (.769). The Tommies' pressure defense helped force 19 Illinois Wesleyan turnovers.
Nicolai, who has has made 242 3-pointers in 115 career games, scored 24 points to lead the Tommies (26-3) into the NCAA round of 16 for the second time in three seasons. Senior Alex Healy had 15 points, senior Anders Halvorsen scored 13 points, and junior Tommy Hannon scored 12.
On Friday in the sectional, the Tommies play last year's NCAA champion UW-Stevens Point while College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin champion Augustana, an 88-80 winner over Hope on March 5, will face Mary Hardin-Baylor in the other game. One of those four teams will be announced as the host site.
