SPRING ARBOR, Mich. – The Spring Arbor University men's basketball team dropped a hard-fought Crossroads League battle to No. 1 Indiana Wesleyan University on Saturday afternoon inside the SAU Fieldhouse.
The short-handed Cougars gave the defending national champions all they could handle for 40 minutes, but the Wildcats, who were limited to their second-lowest scoring total this season, would escape with a narrow 69-60 victory.
In addition to being without starting guards Xavier Prather and Caleb Hogans due to injuries, Spring Arbor found itself in foul trouble early against Indiana Wesleyan. Junior Greg Hamilton picked up three fouls in the first eight minutes while freshman Zach Medendorp was charged with two. However, the Cougars' effort on the defensive end and on the glass helped keep them in the game.
Trailing 16-11 midway through the period, Jimmy Kodet sparked a 9-4 run with a pair of three-pointers to level the score at 20-20.
Indiana Wesleyan (19-1, 7-1 Crossroads League) pushed its lead back to five late in the half, but freshman Drew Zuidema would knock down a triple from the corner with 1:41 left on the clock to get the Cougars within two, 29-27. The Wildcats answered, though, with a trey of their own before the buzzer to take a 32-27 advantage into the locker room.
Back-to-back buckets from Thomas Starks and Hamilton to open the second stanza cut the deficit to one, but Indiana Wesleyan would respond, slowly increasing the margin to double digits. The Wildcats led by as many as 14, but SAU refused to go away. Consecutive three's from Hamilton and Isaac Love ignited the crowd and made it a 60-52 game forcing the visitors to use a timeout with 5:11 remaining.
Following the timeout, IWU's Jonny Marlin, an Indiana University transfer, knocked down a big jumper to halt the Cougar run.
In the final minute, Starks buried a three-pointer to close the gap to seven, 67-60, but Marlin would sink a pair of free throws to seal the game.
Indiana Wesleyan, the conference's top scoring team, was limited to less than 70 points for just the fifth time in the last two seasons. Spring Arbor held the NAIA's second-best shooting team to 39 percent (9-for-23) through the first 20 minutes, but the Wildcats found their rhythm in the second half, hitting on 46 percent (13-for-28) of their attempts.
Starks paced the Cougars with 15 points, eight rebounds and four assists while Hamilton and Love followed with 14 and 11 points, respectively.
Spring Arbor (10-10, 1-7 Crossroads League) will host No. 19 Marian University (13-7, 4-4 Crossroads League) on Tuesday, Jan. 20 at 7 p.m. Head coach Ryan Cottingham and his staff will be wearing sneakers with their usual game attire as part of the Coaches vs. Cancer Suits and Sneakers Week to help raise awareness about the fight against cancer. All proceeds from the game will be donated to the American Cancer Society.
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