CHICAGO, Ill. -- Despite jumping out to a 14-2 lead at the start of the game, the Illinois Wesleyan men's basketball team couldn't hold off the University of Chicago in a 74-57 loss at Chicago's Ratner Gymnasium on Monday, Dec. 14.

IWU now has a 4-4 record through eight games for the first time since the opening of the 2007-08 season, Ron Rose's second season as Titan coach. The Maroons won for the sixth straight time and are now 7-2.

Even with the early 12-point lead, IWU trailed at halftime by one at 34-33 and the Maroons then scored 10 straight points to open the final period to claim a 44-33 advantage. An Alec Bausch basket with 14:52 left broke the scoring ice for IWU and a basket by junior Trevor Seibring brought the Titans to within seven at 44-37, but the Titans got no closer the rest of the way.

With 20 points, Seibring was the lone Titan to score in double figures and he also got a game-best seven rebounds. Alex Voss had 18, Waller Perez and Tyler Howard each scored 15 and Jordan Smith added 10 for Chicago.

"I thought we competed realy hard in the first half but I think we wore down," said Rose in a postgame interview with WJBC Radio. "Chicago is big and strong and send waves of guys at you. I thought it was an incredibly physical game and tonight they were the more physical team."

When the Titans lost senior center Mike Marietti to an apparent leg injury in the first half, Rose indicated that hurt IWU's physicality. "Mike is clearly an emotional leader for this team and takes us to another level. When he was out, we didn't finish things as well."

The Titans were outrebounded, 37-29, shot .393 from the field (22 of 56) and managed only five of 16 from 3-point range (.313). Chicago connected at a .466 clip (27 of 58) from the floor and made 11 of 29 3-point shots (.379).

WHAT'S NEXT? Illinois Wesleyan will play in the Trinity University Holiday Tournament in San Antonio, Texas, this weekend, meeting Southwestern University at 3 p.m. on Friday and Texas Lutheran at 5 p.m. on Saturday. Southwestern is 2-4 ahead of a Dec. 15 game against Wayland Baptist and Texas Lutheran, who hasn't played since Dec. 5, has a 6-1 record and has won five straight games.
Live stats and video for both games will be available at this link.