MILWAUKEE, Wis. – The Illinois Wesleyan men's basketball team proved to be no match against the Milwaukee School of Engineering, losing an 89-69 decision at the Kern Center in Milwaukee, Wis., on Wednesday, Dec. 30.
 
The Titans close out their non-conference schedule with a 6-5 record while the Raiders improved to 5-4 with the victory.
 
Illinois Wesleyan led very early in the contest, ahead for the last time by a 13-12 score with 13:16 to play in the first half. But the Raiders were red hot from the field in building up a 48-35 halftime edge by making 20 of 31 field goals for a 64.5 percent mark with eight of 12 coming from beyond the arc.
 
The Raiders finished by shooting 59.6 from the field, making 34 of 57 and hit 10 of 20 from 3-point range. MSOE built up a lead as large as 25 points at 87-62 with 1:50 to play in the game.
 
IWU got within 10 points at 58-48 with 14:55 remaining but the Raiders went on a 7-0 run to extend the lead to 17 (65-48) with 10:49 left and held on the rest of the way.
 
Junior Trevor Seibring led the Titans with 15 points and a game-high nine rebounds and senior Bryce Dolan, who made four 3-pointers, finished with 14 points.
 
The Raiders got 23 points from Max Wojcik and 14 points each from Austin Stueck and Connor Patterson.
 
MSOE got 44 points from their bench players compared to 28 for IWU and the Titans committed 17 turnovers to eight for the Raiders.
 
"It started right from the tip. They brought the fight to us and we didn't respond very well," IWU head coach Ron Rose told WJBC Radio in a postgame interview. "We've been inconsistent on the defensive end of the floor this year. We just didn't play well and they played harder than we did. We were completely out of sync and made some poor decisions with the ball."
 
What's Next?
Illinois Wesleyan opens College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin play on Saturday, Jan. 2 with a 4 p.m. game at Elmhurst College. The No. 6-nationally-ranked Bluejays are 10-1. The Bluejays' lone loss was on Nov. 25 at home, 94-86, to Benedictine, who also handed IWU an 88-86 loss on Dennie  Bridges Court on Nov. 21.

NOTES: The Titans and MSOE are now even in their overall series, 1-1. IWU downed the Raiders, 97-63, in the first-ever meeting between the two schools on Nov. 25, 2014 ... Illinois Wesleyan has a 105-22 lead in the series against Elmhurst and was 2-1 against the Bluejays last year. IWU lost 76-73 at Elmhurst on Jan. 24, then beat Elmhurst 96-66 in the regular season finale on Feb. 21 and also on Feb. 27 in the first round of the CCIW tournament, 80-67, in Rock Island, Ill. ... Bluejays' coach John Baines 44-20 record in his third season at the helm. Baines was a member of the Illinois Wesleyan 1997 Division III national championship team and played on IWU teams that accumulated an overall 103-14 record in his four years.