Box Score

NAPERVILLE, Ill. - The NCAA Division III postseason fate of the Illinois Wesleyan men's basketball team will be in the hands of a selection committee after the Titans bowed out of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin postseason tournament in a 69-56 loss to Wheaton on Friday (Feb. 24).

The tourney No. 3-seed Titans fell to 19-7 while No. 2-seeded Wheaton advances with a 21-5 mark. The Thunder will meet North Central game at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday (Feb. 25) in Naperville, The Cardinals were 63-56 winners over Augustana.

The loss was Wesleyan's first in the CCIW tournament semifinal round after four wins. The Titans have never won the league's postseason tourney, which is being played for the seventh time.

Senior Jordan Zimmer was the only Titan to score in double digits with 17 as the team shot just .304 in the game (17 of 56) and hit on 3 of 19 3-point shots (.158). IWU made 1 of 10 3-pointers in the final period.

The Thunder built up a 14 point halftime lead on the strength of shooting .680 from the floor (17 of 25). For the game Wheaton shot .510 (26 of 51) and made 5 of 13 from beyond the arc.

“We gave ourselves a chance but could never get over the hump," said IWU head coach Ron Rose. "We had a number of great offensive possessions we didn't finish with a basket.”

Wheaton led the rebound battle 42-35 with 12 from senior Tim McCrary, who also had a game-high 19 points. Tyler Peters had 16 points, Spencer Schulze scored 14 and Jeremy Pflederer added 11.

Junior Kevin reed snagged eight rebounds to go with eight points while sophomore Andrew Ziemnik scored nine points.

With 9:32 to play in the game, Wheaton had a 50-40 lead before the Titans went on a 10-4 run to close to within four at 54-50 with 4:44 remaining. It would be as close as IWU would get.

The NCAA selection show for men's basketball is at 11 a,m. Monday (Feb. 27) at NCAA.com.