UPLAND, Ind. -- With at least a share of the Mid-Central College Conference regular season championship already secured, the No. 5-ranked Indiana Wesleyan University men's basketball team traveled to Taylor (Ind.) University seeking an outright title and the top-seed in the MCC Tournament.

Indiana Wesleyan (25-5, 13-3 MCC) got what they wanted at Taylor by holding off a late Trojan run to secure the first outright MCC title in program history and the third overall. The MCC Tournament will now run through Marion as the Wildcats gained the No. 1-seed.

The Wildcats seemed to have the game in hand early in the second half when IWU turned an eight point halftime lead into a 43-27 advantage with 14:29 left to play.

Midway through the half Indiana Wesleyan continued to hold a big lead of 49-35 when Taylor made their run.

Taylor (11-19, 2-14 MCC) scored 16 of the next 19 points to make it a one point contest at 52-51 with 5:12 on the clock. The two teams traded buckets over the next four possessions for a 56-53 Indiana Wesleyan lead.

Indiana Wesleyan was able to make a defensive stand and senior guard Ryan Hetrick was fouled, hitting a pair of free throws for the 58-53 lead with 3:29 remaining.

Wildcat junior forward Will Hubertz connected on two free throws with 51 seconds left to extend the advantage to seven points at 62-55. But a Taylor basket, an Indiana Wesleyan turnover and another Taylor field goal suddenly brought the score to 62-59 with 23 seconds to play.

IWU senior guard Spencer Harris hit one of two free throws for a four point lead but a foul on the other end allowed Taylor to cut the lead to two points (63-61) on two free throws with six seconds left.

A foul by Taylor put sophomore guard Derrick Troyer on the line with a chance to ice the game. Troyer would as he hit on both free throws for a 65-61 lead. Taylor scored on a layup as time expired for the final score of 65-63.

Hubertz led the Wildcats with 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting. Senior center Zach Coverstone contributed 16 points on 8-of-11 shooting and he pulled down a game-high seven rebounds.

Postseason play begins next week with the MCC Tournament. Indiana Wesleyan will host No. 8-seed Huntington (Ind.) University at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, February 24 in Luckey Arena.

CLICK HERE for box score