MARION, Ind. -- No. 3 Indiana Wesleyan University men's basketball defeated visiting Shawnee State (Ohio) University 74-69 on Saturday evening despite committing a season-high 26 turnovers.

Shawnee State (5-5), a NAIA Division I program, benefited from 26 Indiana Wesleyan turnovers and taking 27 more shot attempts. But the Indiana Wesleyan defense limited Shawnee State to 40.0-percent (26 of 65) shooting and 31.8-percent (7 of 22) from 3-point range. Shawnee State also struggled at the foul line hitting just 10-of-17 (58.8-percent).

"I thought they played smarter than us," said Indiana Wesleyan head coach Greg Tonagel. "You have to give them credit, they played hard and they battled. I was disappointed in how we played. This team has to find ways to continue to get better. It's all part of this big process and you only have 30 games and 100 practices to do it and you hate to waste them. We didn't waste it tonight but that wasn't Wildcat basketball."

Despite losing the turnover battle 26-13, Indiana Wesleyan shot lights out en route to their seventh consecutive victory. IWU shot 60.5-percent (23 of 38) from the field and 61.5-percent (8 of 13) from beyond the arc. Indiana Wesleyan also hit at an 80.0-percent (20 of 25) from the free throw line.

"We shot the ball extremely well," said Indiana Wesleyan head coach Greg Tonagel. "We shot free throws well and that kept us in the game. If you are shooting 60-percent at home you should be winning by 20 but obviously the turnovers hurt us."

In the second half the Wildcats took 19 less shots than the Bears but benefitted from their best shooting half of the season. IWU missed just four shots as they hit 77.8-percent (14 of 18) from the field and were 6-of-7 (85.7-percent) from deep.

Shawnee State held a 17-15 lead with 7:40 remaining in the opening half. Indiana Wesleyan then dominated the rest of the period as they outscored Shawnee State 14-4 to take a 29-21 lead into halftime. Shawnee State recorded just one field goal during that time.

The Wildcats seemed to have put the game away midway through the second half when junior guard Jordan Weidner connected on one of his three 3-pointers to give the team a 54-38 advantage with 8:12 left. The 16 point cushion was the largest lead of the night. Weidner scored a game-high 23 points.

After holding Shawnee State to just 38 points for the first 32:30 of the game, the flood gates opened. Shawnee State scored 31 points in the final 7:30 of the game to ultimately bring the contest to a one possession game at 72-69 with nine seconds on the clock. But Indiana Wesleyan went to their closer and Weidner hit both free throws for the five point victory. He connected on all six free throw attempts in the last 37 seconds.

Patrick Hopkins earned his fourth double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds while senior guard Aaron Martin finished with 15 points and was 3-of-5 from 3-point range. Senior forward Taylor Schoen tied a career-high with 12 points plus five rebounds off the bench and sophomore forward Tyler Greathouse hit both 3-pointers he attempted to finish with six points.

Indiana Wesleyan will take nine days off before their next game which will be in Honolulu, Hawaii. IWU battles two NAIA Division I opponents in Ottawa (Kan.) University on December 17 and MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) University on December 18. Those start times are both 9 a.m. HST/2 p.m. EST.