by Caleb Cottrell
In their third straight game against a ranked conference opponent, the Indiana Wesleyan University Wildcats faced off against the thirteenth-ranked Saint Francis Cougars on Saturday afternoon. The Wildcats made an unthinkable comeback, winning 76-75.
photo by Becka Roth.
The game started off as a game of runs, as the Wildcats went up 6-2, then Saint Francis went on a 7-0 run that was answered with back-to-back threes by DJ Bettinger (sr) and Jonny Marlin (jr).
The first ten minutes were close, as the teams kept trading baskets. However, the Wildcats’ defense struggled to contain the Cougars’ offense, leading to a deficit of 25-36 with five minutes left in the half. Nathan Bubash (so) hit a three then Marlin hit another three after a Saint Francis basket to bring the lead back down to single digits.
Saint Francis played airtight defense, which lead to the Wildcats scoring only 34 points in the first half, compared to the Cougars 47 points. Although their threes were trying to keep them in the game (11-24), the Wildcats just couldn’t get their defense in the paint going.
Wildcats Head Coach Greg Tonagel said he didn’t pull any punches with his team at halftime.
“I said we’re soft, we’re not aggressive, we’re not proactive, the ball is going to the post whenever it wants,” Tonagel said.
The second half started out just like the first half ended: post-ups and drives right to the rim for the Cougars. St. Francis built their lead up to 17 points that seemed insurmountable at the time.
Due to the Cougars trying to score in the paint, they drew seven fouls in the first ten minutes of the second half and were already shooting free throws with eight minutes to go.
photo by Becka Roth.
Turnovers were definitely the story of the game. The Wildcats were able to force 17 turnovers, which lead to 24 fast break points that allowed IWU to get back into the game.
“They gifted us some turnovers late, and we capitalized on them,” Tonagel said.
The Wildcats used these turnovers to cut the lead to three. Zac Vanderwater (sr) hit a three pointer, but Saint Francis countered with a three of their own. Vandewater was heating up though, and came right back down the court to hit another three.
“Big game by Zac to come up with those threes,” Tonagel said. “There were tough contested threes. Those kept us in. They not only kept us in, but slowly allowed us to chip away.”
Saint Francis was able to build their lead back up to eight with just under five minutes to play, but once again the Wildcats started forcing turnovers. They had back-to-back steals that led to two fast break layups. Bob Peters (so) was then fouled and sunk both free throws to cut the lead to just one point with 43.8 seconds to go.
With 20 seconds left, the Wildcats stole the ball and went on a fast break, but Jacob Johnson (fr) missed the layup. With the ball on the ground, bodies went flying everywhere in order to gain possession. It was a jump-ball, and the possession arrow pointed IWU’s way.
Lane Mahurin (so) posted up and was fouled on his shot with 5.6 seconds left. He had two shots to either tie the game or give the Wildcats their first lead in 30 minutes. He missed both, but the Cougars couldn’t corral the ball and let it go out of bounds. This gave the Wildcats one more shot to win the game.
The Wildcats inbounded the ball to Marlin at the three point line. He took a couple steps in, shot, and drained the game winner with one second left on the clock.
Tonagel said his team’s determination was key to the victory.
photo by Becka Roth.
“What we didn’t do is give up, and you never know what happens when you don’t give up,” Tonagel said. “They came out and punched us really hard, but we came out on our heels, and I don’t think we played well at all. We just kept fighting and fighting and scrapping away. We didn’t quit. Jonny made a heck of a shot.”
Although the Wildcats defense wasn’t great, they did have three players score 14 or more points on offense. Marlin scored 16, Vanderwater had 14 and Peters added 15. Marlin also contributed seven assists. Josh Mawhorr (jr) chipped in six points and led the team with eight rebounds.
The Wildcats improved their overall record to 22-2, and 10-2 in the Crossroads League. They play their next game at Huntington University Tuesday, Feb. 3 at 7:00 p.m.