ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – The No. 14-ranked Illinois Wesleyan Titans had their eight-game winning streak snapped in an 88-79 loss to No. 9-ranked Augustana College at the Carver Center in Rock Island, Ill., on Wednesday, Jan. 31.
Illinois Wesleyan never led in the game and now has records of 16-4 overall and 9-2 in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin while Augustana improved to 16-4 overall and 8-3, one game back in second place in the CCIW.
"It was a frustrating game … we fought through lot of adversity and still gave ourselves a chance to win," said IWU head coach
Ron Rose in a postgame interview with WJBC Radio. "We had some good looks [at the basket] early but they didn't go in. When we cut lead to six points at halftime, I was happy given the way we'd played."
Junior
Colin Bonnett led the Titans, scoring 21 points before fouling out of the game in the final minute of play. Junior
Jason Gregoire scored a career-high 18 points and junior
Brady Rose, who also fouled out of the game, added 16, his lowest point output since scoring 11 against WashU on Dec. 17.
Augustana led by as many as 14 points on two occasions in the first half, the last being 34-20 with 5:51 left. But the Titans scored the final seven points of the half to rally from 41-28 down to only trail by six at 41-35 at the break.
The Titans battled back from down 10 at 54-44 with 14:31 to play, going on a 16-7 surge to get within one point at 61-60 after a Rose basket with 6:38 remaining. IWU was again within a point at 80-79 with 1:55 on a Bonnett 3-pointer but the Titans missed their final five shots from the field and the Vikings used free throws to score the final eight points of the game.
Dylan Sortillo and Nolan Ebel each scored 21 points for the Vikings, Chrishawn Orange scored 14 and Brett Benning added 12 points. Four players from Augie had six rebounds each as the Vikings held a 39-30 edge in rebounding.
Jaylen Beasley led the Titans with six boards.
What's Next?
The Titans have a Saturday off from competition and will resume action next Wednesday, Feb. 7 with a home game against Wheaton College … The Thunder is 13-6 overall and 6-4 in the CCIW ahead of a Saturday home game against Elmhurst … On the road, IWU beat Wheaton 82-79 on Dec. 6.
