MARION, Ind. -- Indiana Wesleyan University men's basketball defeated Bethel (Ind.) College 78-68 for the Mid-Central College Conference Tournament championship on Tuesday night in front of a full capacity crowd in Luckey Arena.

No. 3-ranked Indiana Wesleyan completes MCC dominance this season with the MCC Tournament championship in addition to the MCC regular season championship. IWU is 28-5 this season and has won 23 of its last 25 games.

"This is a resilient team that won the championship tonight," said Indiana Wesleyan head coach Greg Tonagel. "We never gave up when we started the season 5-3. Every player has sacrificed for the team."

The Wildcats overcame No. 10-ranked Bethel in the same way they won all season, with defense.

"Our defensive intensity was huge tonight," continued Tonagel. "We showed a lot of effort, especially from Spencer (Harris) and Zach (Coverstone)."

Bethel entered play on Tuesday night seventh in shooting percent in NAIA Division II at 49.1-percent. But Indiana Wesleyan limited Bethel to just 38.8-percent (26 of 67) shooting and 25.0-percent (4 of 16) from 3-point range.

While Bethel struggled on the offensive end, Indiana Wesleyan thrived. IWU shot 55.6-percent (30 of 54) from the floor and committed just seven turnovers in the game.

The Wildcats never trailed throughout the contest after scoring the first six points of the night. IWU increased the lead to eight points on multiple occasions following the hot start, but the Pilots were able to draw within two points (27-25) as late as 4:37 before halftime.

But over the final 3:47 in the first half, four Wildcats scored en route to an 11-2 run as IWU headed into the break up 38-27.

Indiana Wesleyan senior center Zach Coverstone hit one of two free throws two minutes into the second half as IWU earned their largest lead of the night at 14 (43-29). The Indiana Wesleyan lead remained at least eight points until Bethel senior guard Ryne Lightfoot connected on a pair of free throws with 9:13 left to bring the score to 56-50.

The Pilots would get within five points on three different occasions with the last coming on a field goal by junior guard Caleb Laidig with 5:44 remaining on the clock.

IWU senior guard Ryan Hetrick would miss a 3-point chance on the next Wildcat possession, giving the Pilots a chance to make it a one possession game. But Laidig missed a field goal chance and IWU freshman guard George Jones IV answered with an old fashioned 3-point play for a 64-56 advantage and 4:49 remaining.

Lightfoot would score quickly on the other end but Hetrick and senior guard Spencer Harris hit layups on back-to-back possessions for a 68-58 Wildcat lead.

After Bethel closed to within six points at 70-64, Coverstone hit a critical basket in the paint for a 72-64 lead and 2:33 left. Indiana Wesleyan would put the game away at the free throw line with 6-of-8 from the charity stripe in the game's final 2:08.

Tonagel said, "Bethel made their run in the second half. But our seniors stood together and started their own. It was a great team effort and it started on the defensive end."

Coverstone came up huge in his final game at Luckey Arena with a game-high 21 points on 10-of-14 shooting. He also put up game highs of nine rebounds, six assists, six blocked shots and three steals.

IWU senior guard Spencer Harris added 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting with four assists and no turnovers. Junior forward Will Hubertz poured in 13 and sophomore guard Derrick Troyer had 12.

Indiana Wesleyan committed only seven turnovers on the night while passing out 15 assists. Bethel did out-rebound IWU by a 38-to-31 margin, while collecting 17 offensive rebounds.

BC senior forward Tyler Brown had a team-high 16 points and seven rebounds while Lightfoot scored 15 points before fouling out.

Three times the Wildcats have advanced to the MCC Tournament championship game prior to this season, in 1994, 2007 and 2009. Each time the Wildcats fell just short on the road. But the Wildcats broke through this season with 1,500 fans at Luckey Arena for the program's first conference tournament title.

"It's awesome!" said Hetrick. "This group of guys is a family. Being the first tournament champion in history is really important to us."

Coverstone added, "What an awesome season. It's really special being a part of turning this program around."

The senior class of Coverstone, Harris, Hetrick and Josh Williams has the top three winning seasons and four of the top five in program history. The quartet has a record of 110-28 with the program's first three MCC championships and NAIA National Championship appearances.

"We are going to have fun at the national tournament," said Coverstone. "You don't get very many opportunities to compete at that level. We just need to play loose like we have been."

Indiana Wesleyan will learn its first round opponent on Wednesday when the NAIA releases the Division II 32-team National Championship bracket. The NAIA National Championship will be contested on March 10-16 in Point Lookout, Missouri.