MARION, Ind. -- A 19-3 run to open the second half of play was the deciding factor in the No. 10-ranked Indiana Wesleyan University men's basketball victory over visiting Bethel (Ind.) College Wednesday night in the Mid-Central College Conference Tournament First Round game inside Luckey Arena.

The Wildcats increased their advantage to as much as 21 points at the midway point of the half before having to survive a late Pilot run to advance into the conference semifinals.

The top-seed Indiana Wesleyan led 36-35 at the break after holding a slim lead for much of the opening stanza. IWU seemed to blow the game wide open in the second half when the 19-3 run led to a 55-38 advantage with 13:10 left to play.

Bethel (14-17), the tournament's No. 8-seed, scored five straight points to cut into the lead at 55-43. But Indiana Wesleyan scored the next nine points to build their largest lead of the night at 64-43. By that point, IWU outscored Bethel 28-8 in the first nine and a half minutes of the half.

The Pilots would quickly storm back and cut the lead to 10 at 68-58 with 6:31 to play courtesy of a 15-4 spurt. Less than half a minute later, the Pilots were within single digits at 71-63.

Bethel senior guard Caleb Laidig connected on a pair of free throws to once again make the game single digits at 75-67 with four minutes remaining. The lead never hit 10 points the rest of the night.

Laidig hit two free throws with 44 second remaining to finally make it a one possession game at 79-76. Two second later, Indiana Wesleyan freshman guard Jordan Weidner hit one free throw for an 80-76 lead.

Bethel junior guard Stephen Ward missed a 3-pointer on their next possession and IWU freshman guard Jeff Hoskins was fouled quickly. He missed both free throws and Bethel regained possession. Weidner stole the ball with 22 seconds left and was fouled. He hit both free throws to extend the Wildcat lead to 82-76 and clinch the victory.

All five Wildcat starters scored in double figures and leading the way was sophomore guard Aaron Martin. He scored a career-high 22 points on 8-of-13 shooting and 3-of-6 from deep. Sophomore forward Patrick Hopkins added his 13th double-double of the season with 15 points and 12 rebounds.

Senior forward Will Hubertz added 14 points, freshman guard Jordan Weidner finished with 13 and was 9-of-10 from the foul line while sophomore guard George Jones IV scored 10, eight coming in the first half.

Indiana Wesleyan (25-6) shot well from the foul line, hitting 23-of-28 (82.1-percent) while shooting 52.7-percent (29 of 55) from the field.

The Wildcats won their 25th game of the season tonight. Only four men's basketball teams have ever won that many games in a single season and all four have come in the past five seasons.

Indiana Wesleyan will next play No. 5-seed Spring Arbor (Mich.) University on Saturday at 3 p.m. in the MCC Tournament Semifinals. Spring Arbor defeated No. 4-seed Huntington (Ind.) University 56-54 in Huntington tonight.

The MCC semifinal game will be a ?White Out' game and all Wildcat fans are encouraged to dress in white to support IWU.

The first 400 Indiana Wesleyan students with ID's will have their $2.00 ticket paid for. The first 100 will be paid for by the Indiana Wesleyan athletic department while the next 300 will have their ticket paid for by a generous donation. Adult tickets will be $7.00 and only NAIA issued passes may be accepted during postseason games.

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