DES MOINES – Iowa Wesleyan College fell behind by 19 points in the first half and never fully recovered, seeing its season end with an 80-59 loss to #1 seed Grand View University in the Midwest Collegiate Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament quarterfinals
The ninth-seeded Tigers went through an eight-minute span in the first half scoring just one field goal, and the Vikings used an 18-3 run during that time to gain control and eventually advance to the MCC semifinals Friday night. Grand View will face #4 seed Ashford University in a semifinal Friday night, while IWC’s season ends with a 9-20 record.
Wesleyan shot just 26.9% in the first half, struggling to find any flow and committing 11 turnovers in the half. The Tigers never led in the game but were close in the early minutes until GVU made its run, going ahead 28-13 with 7:30 left in the first half.
IWC would never get closer than 11 points the rest of the way and hit another dry spell to finish the half, going scoreless over the final 5:25 of the half in falling behind 38-19 at halftime. Grand View finished the half scoring the final eight points before the break.
The Tigers hung around in the second half, getting as close as 12 points after Patrick Macki (Sr.-London, England) made two free throws to make it 57-45 with 9:31 remaining. GVU would score the next six points, though, and stayed in control the rest of the way.
Reggie Shipp (Jr.-Aurora, Ill.) led IWC with 18 points and nine rebounds, including 15 points in the second half. Jared Callanan (Sr.-Bennington, Vt.) added 15 points, following up his career high 36 points and nine three-pointers on Monday with five more three-pointers. Callanan finished his career with 155 three-point baskets made, tying Jesse Hill (2004-07) for ninth on the all-time IWC list in that category. Mike Lowe (Sr.-Panora, Iowa) added six points and three rebounds before fouling out in his final game for the Tigers.
Wesleyan shot 37.3%, making 22 of 59 field goal attempts. The Tigers also were 9 of 26 from three-point range. Grand View shot 43.5% for the game (30-for-69) and committed just six turnovers. The Vikings, ranked 16th in NAIA Division II, improved to 23-7 overall this year.
For more information regarding the IWC basketball programs or any of the Tiger athletic teams, contact sports information director Adam Glatczak (319-385-6306 phone; 319-385-6384 FAX; aglatczak@iwc.edu e-mail) or log on to IWC's athletics web site at www.iwc.edu/athletics.
Box score #1 GVU 80 #9 IWC 59
MCC Men's Basketball Tournament bracket
