WINONA LAKE, Ind. -- Many factors could have played a role in bringing a stop to the Indiana Wesleyan University men's basketball record win streak on Tuesday night at No. 16-ranked Grace (Ind.) College in Winona Lake, Indiana.

But the No. 9-ranked Wildcats overcame illness, injury, fouls, poor free throw shooting and a ranked Lancer team that was unblemished at home to extend the record win streak to 16 in a row following a 79-67 win.

Sophomore forward Patrick Hopkins, who has been named Mid-Central College Conference Player of the Week for the past three weeks, just missed his 11th double-double of the season with 10 points and nine rebounds despite a bad case of the flu.

"Pat hasn't eaten in about 24 hours because of the flu," said Indiana Wesleyan head coach Greg Tonagel. "But he never complained tonight and never asked to come out. Defensively he was awesome and I was proud of his effort."

Hopkins was a major factor in holding Grace's leading scorer, senior forward Duke Johnson, to nine points and four rebounds on 2-of-7 shooting.

Junior point guard Derrick Troyer was lost to the Wildcats late in the first half with an injury. He did not return after contributing seven points and two assists in 16 minutes.

Indiana Wesleyan (19-3, 8-0 MCC), already playing a man down the entire second half, had to contend with foul problems to close the game. Just after the midway point of the second half, Indiana Wesleyan had already accumulated 12 team fouls. IWU lost senior forward Will Hubertz with 4:02 remaining with five fouls and then lost sophomore guard George Jones IV to fouls shortly thereafter.

"It was a gutsy performance tonight," Tonagel added. "Wasn't pretty but we got the win. We were a man down, had guys playing out of position but guys continue to step up and make the plays when we need them."

One such player was sophomore guard Aaron Martin. He finished with 16 points and was 3-of-6 from 3-point range while also pulling down four rebounds.

"Tonight was easily Aaron's best game of the season," Tonagel said. "He shot well but more importantly was a big factor on the defensive end. He made some good stops and had some big rebounds."

Indiana Wesleyan was able to attack the basket all night and got to the free throw line 31 times. But IWU's early season issues at the foul line reared its ugly head again on Tuesday as Indiana Wesleyan hit just 48.4-percent (15 of 31) from the charity stripe. But IWU was able to connect when they needed them most down the stretch.

The Wildcats seemed to have the game in hand midway through the second half with an 18 point advantage, holding a 58-40 lead with 11:20 to play. But the Lancers charged back and cut the deficit to just five points on three occasions, the last coming at 68-63 with 2:13 to play. But from that point on the Wildcats hit nine free throws to secure the victory.

"After Grace got close this team got that look," said Tonagel. "They didn't want me to call a timeout and wanted to stay on the court. But after I called that timeout they looked hungry to get back out there. They're fighters and won't back down."

Freshman guard Jordan Weidner led the team in scoring with 17 points and Jones IV added 12. Hubertz scored nine and senior forward Josh Williams added eight points and eight rebounds. In all, seven Wildcats scored at least seven points for the balanced offensive attack.

In one of the Wildcats' best defensive efforts of the season, the Lancers were held to 41.3-percent (19 of 46) shooting and were forced into 22 turnovers.

Indiana Wesleyan has now completed the first round of games in the MCC and holds a perfect 8-0 mark. IWU will open the second half of the conference schedule on Saturday in a rematch with Taylor (Ind.) University in Upland, Indiana.

Click here for box score