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Noah Cleveland dunking
Kodiak Creative
67
Illinois Col. IC 2-1,0-0 Midwest Conference
71
Winner Ill. Wesleyan IWU 1-0,0-0 CCIW
Illinois Col. IC
2-1,0-0 Midwest Conference
67
Final
71
Ill. Wesleyan IWU
1-0,0-0 CCIW
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Illinois Col. IC 35 32 67
Ill. Wesleyan IWU 36 35 71

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Men’s Basketball Earns First Win Over Illinois College

Cleveland impresses with double-double in Titan debut

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The Illinois Wesleyan University men's basketball team pulled out a 71-67 win over Illinois College Friday, November 14 inside the Shirk Center to kick off the 2025-26 season and Sikma Hall of Fame Invitational. The Titans begin their season 1-0, while Illinois College drops its first contest of the year, falling to 2-1. Illinois Wesleyan will meet UW-Oshkosh for a battle of the Titans Saturday, November 16 for the Sikma Hall of Fame Championship.

Sophomore Noah Cleveland (Normal, Ill.-Normal Community) led the Titans in his Green and White debut with a 16 point, 13 rebound double-double. Fellow Normal, Ill. native junior Mason Funk (Normal, Ill.-University High) had a team-high 17 points, adding six rebounds, three assists, and two steals to his stat line. Junior Brady Ruggles (Wheaton, Ill.-Danville) impressed in his first game as a Titan, posting 11 points on a 4-of-7 shooting performance. 

In a tight contest throughout, IWU narrowly held an advantage in points in the paint (30-26) and assists (11-5). IC led in second chance points (10-3) and a narrow lead in bench points (16-13).

Sophomore Josh Fridman (Northbrook, Ill.-Glenbrook North) opened the game with a three-pointer from the corner. Senior Karlo Colak (Glencoe, Ill.-New Trier) hit a three off a dime by junior Casen Lawrence (St. Louis, Mo.-Westminster Christian) and Ruggles followed with a pull-up jumper from the elbow to lift IWU ahead, 13-4, into an IC timeout with 13:53 on the clock.

Cleveland converted a hook shot through contact to stretch the lead to double digits, 16-6. After Lawrence drilled a three from the wing with a defender in his face, Fridman dished to Ruggles for a trey in front of the IC bench. Ruggles completed a four-point play at the free throw line and came right back down the floor with another triple from the opposite corner as the Titan lead grew to a dozen with six minutes left in the half.

The Blueboys battled back to pull within one, 36-35, at the break before snatching a 49-48 lead with 12:40 left in the contest. 

Fridman exploded past the Illinois College defense for a driving layup to lift IWU ahead, 52-51, and Funk found Colak curling around a screen for a bucket moments later. The Colak made it 56-54 in favor of the Green and White ahead of an IC timeout with 6:26 to play.

Funk caught fire on the offensive end, knocking down a wing three-ball in front of the Titan bench, and then tacking on a few free throws to give IWU a six-point cushion, 62-56, with less than four minutes on the clock.

Fridman slipped a pass to Cleveland for a dunk to up the advantage to eight, 64-56. The lead proved to be enough as the Titans held off the Blueboys final push with free throws down the stretch to punch their ticket to the weekend's title game for the fifth straight year.

Illinois Wesleyan is set to tip-off against UW-Oshkosh Saturday, November 14 at 4 p.m. in a hoops-filled day inside the Shirk Center. The Titans are in search of their third Sikma Hall of Fame Invitational Championship.
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