Box Score

STEVENS POINT, Wis. - The Illinois Wesleyan men's basketball team saw its 2015 NCAA Division III tournament hopes come to an end with a 70-53 second-round loss at No. 8 Wis.-Stevens Point on Saturday, March 7. The Titans finish with a 20-9 record, the sixth straight 20-win season for the program.
 
The Pointers, who led the entire game, improved to 23-5 and will play Emory in the sectional round. Emory was an 85-84 winner over Whitworth with winning free throws coming with four seconds left.

Stevens Point jumped out to an 11-point lead at 19-8 with 12:51 to go in the first half but Illinois Wesleyan shot .542 from the field in the first 20 minutes (13 of 24) and buried six 3-pointers to close to within one at 35-34 at intermission.

The Titans could never take the advantage as the Pointers outscored IWU 8-2 to grab a 43-36 lead with 17:13 left. The Titans closed to within two points at 49-47 with 11:31 remaining on two free throws by sophomore Trevor Seibring. But again the Pointers withstood the charge, going on a 5-0 run to lead by seven.

The Titans were limited to 19 second half points and did not score in the final 7:16 of the game with the last basket a 3-pointer by senior Pat Sodemann. IWU was 7 of 26 from the field (.269) in the final period and made just two of 13 from beyond the arc. Illinois Wesleyan held a 29-27 rebounding edge in the game, collecting seven offensive boardsand IWU was guilty of 12 turnovers (that led to 15 Stevens Point points) compared to five turnovers for the Pointers.
 
Illinois Wesleyan Statistics and Leaders
Field Goal Percentage - .400 (20 of 50)
3-Point Field Goal Percentage - .308 (8 of 26)
Free Throw Percentage - 1.000 (5 of 5)
Seibring (13 points, 4 rebounds)
Junior Bryce Dolan (9 points, 3 3-pointers)
Sodemann (6 points)
Senior Dylan Overstreet (6 points, 6 assists)
 
Wis.-Stevens Point Statistics and Leaders
Field Goal Percentage - .500 (25 of 50)
3-Point Field Goal Percentage - .391 (9 of 23)
Free Throw Percentage - .836 (11 of 13)
Joe Ritchay (19 points, 5 rebounds)
Austin Ryf (14 points, 4 assists)
Stephen Pelkofer (11 points)
Jordan Lutz (11 points)
 
NCAA NOTES: IWU has a record of 54­-24 (.707) in 24 NCAA Division III appearance, the most wins in Division III postseason. Second is Wittenberg, who has a Division III postseason record of 51-27 in 27 tournament years. In third place is Franklin & Marshall with a record of 43-28 in 23 appearances. Neither Wittenberg or Franklin & Marshall were in the 2015 tournament ... Only Augustana from the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin advanced on Saturday to the sectional round of 16. The Vikings got two free throws from Jawan Straughter with five seconds left to beat DePauw 68-66 in Rock Island. Elmhurst got a game-high 21 points from Kyle Wuest but lost by an 84-75 score to Northwestern College (Minn.).