No. 1 Men’s Basketball falls to No. 2 IWU 95-90

Box Score

MARION, ind. – Travis Wells (SR/Eaton Rapids, Mich.) poured in a career high 24 points but it was not enough to help the No. 1 ranked Golden Eagles overcome a 13-point first half deficit as they fell to No. 2 Indiana Wesleyan 95-90. The loss came in a matchup of the last two NAIA DII National Champions as CU will look to get their first win of the year on Saturday when they take on Spring Arbor at 1 p.m.

Game Flow
The Wildcats, coming off a 33-3 campaign that saw them fall in the national quarterfinals, jumped out to a big first half lead thanks to the play of senior Jonny Marlin who scored 11 straight points midway through the first to give IWU their largest lead of 13. Trailing by that same margin with 3:27 to play in the opening 20 minutes, CU rattled off the final 10 points to cut the margin to just three, 42-39.

After an early bucket by Cornerstone cut it to one, Indiana Wesleyan hit some deep three-pointers to up their lead back to as many as seven but Kyle Steigenga (SO/Holland, Mich.) kept things close scoring 13 of his team-matching high 24 points in the second half. The game came down to the final minute in which CU trailed by just two with 30.6 seconds remaining but the host Wildcats nailed their free-throws to ice the game.

Say What?
"I was proud of the way our guys battled back in a hostile environment and after such a poor start. We can't afford to get down by that many to such a quality team but we will learn and get better after playing a very talented IWU team." – Head coach Kim Elders

By the Numbers
12 – Three pointers made by Indiana Wesleyan – compared to just three for CU
17 – CU forced the Wildcats into 17 turnovers
16/24 – FG's combined for Travis Wells (10/14) and Kyle Steigenga (6/10)
.564 and .516 – Shooting percentage for IWU and CU

Up Next
Cornerstone will stay at Indiana Wesleyan for the second game of the WHAC/Crossroads League Challenge when they face Spring Arbor at 1 p.m.

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