IWU men’s basketball falls at quarterfinals

With an NAIA championship run in sight, the Indiana Wesleyan men’s basketball team needed a win against No. 6-seeded Oklahoma Wesleyan to secure its spot in the final four round, but unfortunately the road ended here for the Wildcats in a 71-59 defeat.

If IWU would have won, then it would be facing a familiar foe in the final four round: the University of Saint Francis. During the regular season, Indiana Wesleyan defeated St. Francis in both match ups and would have looked for a third.

With the loss, IWU also loses four seniors: Zach Coverstone, Ryan Hetrick, Spencer Harris and Josh Williams. All four players have had outstanding careers at IWU with their best coming this year. Each of the four seniors contributed in many ways to help the Wildcats succeed throughout the last four years, with 112 wins coming during that span, which are four of the five highest-winning seasons in the program’s history. During their four-year run, the Wildcats have won three MCC championships, an MCC tournament title, an NCCAA national championship and made three NAIA Elite Eight appearances.

Although IWU lost four seniors, next year should not be a rebuilding year, as coach Tonagel will most likely look to junior forward Will Hubertz, sophomore guard Derrick Troyer, and freshman guards Aaron Martin and George Jones IV to step up. Not to mention, the incoming freshman class features some high-quality talent with post player Parker Stouffer, guard Jeff Hoskins and guard Jordan Weidner.

The Wildcats finished this season with a 25-5 overall record and look to continue the success next season.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, March 18th, 2010 at 8:00 AM and is filed under Sports.
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