SPRING ARBOR, MI - After two narrow misses at huge upset wins over top ranked teams in the NAIA, the Spring Arbor University men's basketball team was hungry for another shot to topple a giant. The third time was a charm for the Cougars as SAU up-ended #6 ranked Indiana Wesleyan University 70-64 in a thriller at the Cougar Dome.

The game started about as well as Coach Ryan Cottingham could have hoped for as the Cougars built a 13 point lead (32-19) with 5:17 to go before halftime. Spring Arbor would take a nine point lead into the break leading the Wildcats 39-30.

Coming out the locker room the Cougars couldn't figure out the Wildcats defense as they turned the ball over on their first six possessions and IWU took advantage cutting the lead to one point, 39-38.

The game would go back and forth over the next 12 minutes with Spring Arbor never losing the lead but never leading by more than eight points.

With just over two minutes remaining in the game, IWU's big man, Patrick Hopkins hit two of his 20 points in the game to cut the Cougars lead to two points (62-60) and the tension in the fieldhouse was getting thick.

A couple of missed shots by both teams and a Spring Arbor foul brought IWU to the line where the Wildcats split a pair of free throws to cut the lead to one point, 62-61 with less than a minute to play.

After a two stellar defensive stops by Spring Arbor and free throws by Chris Bellamy and Rob Hogans the Cougars took control of the game 68-62 with 18 seconds left and a bucket by Hogans with 0.05 left iced the game for the Cougars for the upset win.

"This was a huge win for us," said Cottingham. "Indiana Wesleyan is a former #1 team and to get the win is really important for us. Jake Peterson was huge for us, maybe his best game of the year so far, and we got really good minutes from Matt Carden and Chandler Okey which was very important in a game like this."

Chris Bellamy lead all scorers with 23 points and eight rebounds. The junior guard is scoring at a 23 points per game clip during conference play and was recently named the MCC player of the week..

Rob Hogans scored 19 points including 5 of 5 from the free throw line.

Caleb Byers added nine points, hauled in 10 rebounds and blocked five shots.

Spring Arbor dominated the boards which made a big difference in this ball game. The Cougars grabbed 36 rebounds while IWU managed only 21 boards.

The win for the Cougars moved them into a five-way tie for second place in the MCC one game behind Grace College. Spring Arbor's record stands at 12-5 and 3-2 in the MCC. IWU's loss drops them to 11-6 and 3-2.

The men will play next at Huntington University with game time set for 3:00.