Box Score
NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Interactive Bracket
WOOSTER, Ohio – For the fifth time in school history and the first time since 2006, the Illinois Wesleyan men's basketball team will be in the final four of the NCAA Division III tournament after a 70-49 win over Wittenberg in Wooster, Ohio on Saturday (March 10).
The Titans (23-7) will play on Friday against 30-1 Cabrini in Salem, Va. Cabrini was a 78-58 winner over Scranton on Saturday.
The other semifinal on Friday will pair Massachusetts Institute of Technology against Wisconsin-Whitewater. MIT was a 69-54 winner against Franklin & Marshall and the Warhawks topped Virginia Wesleyan 76-62.
The Illinois Wesleyan men were the national champions in 1997 and has finished third in 1996, 2001 and 2006. Tonight was IWU's eighth appearance in the round of 8 in the NCAA Division III tournament (1990, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2006, 2010).
The IWU women's team was a 77-69 winner over Carthage and also advances to their final four Friday in Holland, Mich. The only other teams to have both men and women teams represented in the final four in Division III were Washington U. in 2009 and 2007, Wisconsin-Stevens Point in 2004 and Centre in 1989.
The Titans got off to a 4-0 lead and never trailed in the game. The closest Wittenberg got was one point at 9-8 and again at 12-11.
Against Wittenberg the Titans played stifling defense, limiting the Tigers to just 29 percent shooting in the game (15 of 52). The Tigers were 6 of 20 from 3-point range and hit on 13 of 18 free throws.
Senior
Jordan Zimmer had four 3-pointers and finished with 14 points to lead three Titans, all seniors, in double figures as
John Koschnitzky and
Eliud Gonzalez each had 10. Gonzalez also had a career-high six steals.
Illinois Wesleyan, who led at halftime 30-20, finished with 48 percent accuracy from the field (27 of 56) and hit on 9 of 21 from outside the arc (43 percent). IWU made 7 of 10 free throws.
IWU outrebounded Wittenberg 36-32 as junior
Kevin Reed corralled a game-high 11 boards to go with 9 points while sophomore
Andrew Ziemnik grabbed 7 rebounds.
The Titans were guilty of only seven turnovers in the game compared to 11 for the Tigers.
Clayton Black had 10 points and was the lone double figure scorer for Wittenberg, whose season ends with a 24-7 record.
