CHICAGO, Ill. – Led by a 25-point performance from Brady Rose, the Illinois Wesleyan men's basketball team recovered from their loss on Sunday to get a 76-65 win at the University of Chicago on Tuesday, Dec. 19, in the Ratner Center.
 
Illinois Wesleyan improved to 8-2 and Chicago fell below the .500 mark at 4-5, with three of those losses coming to College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin teams – they had lost earlier to North Park and Wheaton.
 
"This was an important one for us," said IWU head coach Ron Rose in a postgame interview with WJBC Radio. "We were wanting to show improvement after the loss two days ago and getting a win before going on break was really important. I thought we made progress but we still have a lot of progress to make."
 
The Titans took a 9-0 surge to turn a 12-8 deficit into a 17-12 lead with 8:42 before halftime. IWU's 15-1 run got a 10-point lead at 23-13, playing aggressive defense that prevented the Maroons from scoring a field goal for 6:05 (from the 12:13 mark to 6:08).
Chicago managed just .353 from the field (12 of 34) and .263 (5 of 19) from 3-range. IWU shot .500 in 3-pointers in building up a 41-31 halftime lead.
 
Illinois Wesleyan was in command the remainder of the game, ballooning their advantage to as many as 18 points at 55-37 with 15:19 to go. Chicago snuck back within eight points at 73-65 with 1:22 left.
 
Sophomore Zach Knobloch responded to his first starting assignment with 11 points, including 3 3-pointers, and junior Colin Bonnett added 10 points.
 
Senior Jaylen Beasley led IWU with nine rebounds as the Titans took a 47-44 rebound edge in the game and sophomore Alex O'Neill had eight rebounds to offset a rough shooting night from the floor (1-for-9).
 
Noah Karras led Chicago with 18 points and Collin Barthel had a double-double with 13 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Jake Fenlon, who came into game averaging a team-high 21.3, was limited to only five points before fouling out with 7:14 to play.
 
IWU shot .379 in the game (25 of 66) and cooled to .444 from 3-point range (12 of 27) while the Maroons finished at .348 from the floor (23 of 66) and .235 in 3-pointers (8 of 34). Rose praised Bonnett and Jason Gregoire for doing "outstanding jobs of chasing around their good 3-point shooters."
 
Rose also cited the good play of freshman Doug Wallen, who scored five points and grabbed six rebounds in seven minutes. "Doug has a nose for the ball and he's been coming on during the last couple weeks of practice," Rose said. "He gives us a big, athletic wing player and tonight he really conttibuted."
 
What's Next?
The Titans will play next against Emory University on Thursday, Dec. 28, at 2 p.m. Eastern time in the Emory Classic in Atlanta, Ga. The Eagles are 6-2. On Friday, Dec. 29, the Titans meet Birmingham Southern, also at 2 p.m. Eastern. The Panthers are 2-6 after a 93-68 win over Belhaven on Tuesday night. The games will be played at the Woodruff P.E. Center on the Emory campus.