MARION, Ind. – The No. 22 ranked Spring Arbor University men's basketball team wrapped up its regular season with a 77-51 loss at No. 6 Indiana Wesleyan University on Saturday.
The Cougars ended the regular season seventh in the league standings and will be the No. 7 seed in the upcoming Crossroads League Tournament, which is slated to begin Wednesday, Feb. 21.
THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: #22 Spring Arbor 51, #6 Indiana Wesleyan 77
LOCATION: Luckey Arena | Marion, Ind.
RECORDS: Spring Arbor 20-10 (8-10 CL), Indiana Wesleyan 23-7 (14-4 CL)
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Spring Arbor got off to a terrific start, racing out to a 17-9 lead less than eight minutes into the contest. The Cougars, behind 11 first half points from senior Zach Medendorp, did not trail through the first 15 minutes of the game.
- Indiana Wesleyan, who clinched at least a share of the regular season league title, battled back. Trailing 23-19 at the 8:10 mark, the Wildcats ended the period on a 15-3 run to take a 34-26 advantage into halftime.
- IWU carried that momentum over into the second half, scoring the first seven points of the stanza. The home team's lead ballooned to 20 at the 14:32 mark as the Wildcats cruised to claim their first league title since the 2014-15 season.
FOR THE COUGARS
- Medendorp finished with a team-high 13 points going 6-for-9 from the field. He also added three rebounds and a blocked shot.
- Drew Zuidema added eight points and three assists while Brandon Durnell also chipped in eight points with a team-high seven boards. Tommy Hamilton had seven points and five rebounds.
- Spring Arbor shot 42 percent (22-for-53), but the league's best three-point shooting team was limited to just 4-for-19 from behind the arc.
- The Cougars committed a season-high 21 turnovers and IWU converted those giveaways into 26 points.
FOR THE WILDCATS
- Kyle Mangas posted a game-high 27 points to lead Indiana Wesleyan. Evan Maxwell followed with 16 points and eight rebounds.
- The Wildcats connected on 45 percent (30-for-67) of their field goal attempts, but were held to 6-for-29 from long range.
- IWU dominated down low, outscoring Spring Arbor 42-20 in the paint and out-rebounded the Cougars 40-33.
UP NEXT
The Crossroads League Tournament begins Wednesday, Feb. 21. Spring Arbor will be the No. 7 seed for the tournament and will face off against second-seeded, and No. 3 ranked, University of Saint Francis (23-7, 13-5 CL) in Fort Wayne, Indiana starting at 7 p.m.
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