WINONA LAKE, Ind. -- No. 5-ranked Indiana Wesleyan University men's basketball captured the program's third Mid-Central College Conference regular season championship in four years following an 81-59 victory at Grace (Ind.) College on Tuesday night in Winona Lake, Indiana.

The win clinches at least a share of the title and the Wildcats can claim the title outright with either a victory on Saturday at Taylor (Ind.) University or a Bethel (Ind.) College loss on Saturday at University of Saint Francis (Ind.). USF fell out of the title race following a 103-87 loss at Huntington (Ind.) University tonight to fall two games behind IWU.

The Indiana Wesleyan victory is the 24th of the season which ties for third all-time in program history with the 1980-81 team that finished 24-6. Head coach Greg Tonagel has now coached four of the five winningest seasons in IWU men's basketball history. Tonagel has led the Wildcats to all three of the program's MCC titles and both NAIA National Championship Tournament berths.

But the huge Indiana Wesleyan victory at Grace did not come so easy early in the first half. Grace trailed 9-8 but ran off 10 of the next 11 points to earn their largest lead of the game at 18-10.

Indiana Wesleyan (24-5, 12-3 MCC) went nearly six minutes between field goals that lasted through the Grace run. IWU senior center Zach Coverstone hit 3-of-4 free throws to bring a close to the Grace spurt before junior forward Will Hubertz hit a basket at 9:36 to bring a finish to the shooting woes for the Wildcats.

Once the Wildcats started hitting shots they began to connect all over the court. The Wildcats scored 29 of the final 40 points in the first half to turn an eight point deficit into a 39-29, 10 point halftime lead.

The second half began in much the same fashion as the first half ended. Indiana Wesleyan raced out of halftime with a 13-4 run to gain a 52-33 advantage. A pair of Coverstone free throws at 11:59 pushed the lead to 22 points at 61-39.

Grace (16-13, 6-10 MCC) never threatened in the second half and a layup by sophomore guard Derrick Troyer with 55 seconds left gave Indiana Wesleyan its largest lead of the night at 25 (81-56). Grace scored the final three points of the contest for the final score of 81-59.

Coverstone once again led all players with game-highs of 19 points and 12 rebounds. He hit on 9-of-12 free throws on the night and blocked two shots.

Freshman guard Aaron Martin came up big for the Wildcats with 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting. Hubertz and Troyer each added 12 points while senior guard Spencer Harris contributed eight points and four assists.

Indiana Wesleyan shot 50.0-percent (29 of 58) from the floor and out-rebounded a good rebounding Grace team by a 33-to-30 margin. IWU was tremendous in protecting the ball all night and committed a season-low four turnovers. The next best turnover performance this year was 11.

The Wildcats will look to claim the MCC championship outright on Saturday as Indiana Wesleyan travels to Grant County rival Taylor with a 3 p.m. tip-off.

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