MARION, Ind. -- Despite a career-high 30 points from junior forward Patrick Hopkins No. 4-seed University of Saint Francis (Ind.) upset No. 1-seed Indiana Wesleyan University men's basketball 78-65 in the Mid-Central College Conference Tournament Semifinals in Luckey Arena.

Saint Francis moves on to the conference tournament championship game which will be at No. 2-seed Grace (Ind.) College. Grace defeated No. 3-seed Marian (Ind.) University 62-53 in the other semifinal.

Hopkins did all he could to help the Wildcats advance to their fourth consecutive MCC Tournament Championship game.

"I just got hot and everything was falling," said Hopkins of his big game.

The junior scored 30 points to nearly account for half of the Indiana Wesleyan points on Saturday. He was 11-of-18 from the field and pulled down a game-high 15 rebounds. Hopkins nearly had his double-double by halftime with 12 points and eight boards.

"Pat played an unbelievable game," said Indiana Wesleyan head coach Greg Tonagel. "He just kind of willed us and kept us in the game. What we needed was one other guy to come along with him."

The rest of the Wildcats were 10-of-30 from the field for 35 points. Senior point guard Derrick Troyer was the only other Wildcat in double figures with 13 points plus five assists.

No. 10-ranked Indiana Wesleyan also fell in an early hole which forced them to play catch up throughout most of the afternoon. Saint Francis used an early 8-0 run to take a 16-8 lead nearly the midway point of the first half. USF led by as many as 12 points (38-26) before IWU scored the final four points in the half, including a Hopkins second chance basket in the paint as time expired, to draw within eight (38-30).

"They wanted it a lot and we didn't come in with the fire that we needed to," said Hopkins. "We made way too many mistakes, everybody made mistakes all the way down the line and those just add up and got us in a hole in the first half."

A Troyer basket four minutes into the second half cut the deficit to 45-40 but Saint Francis continued to hold the lead and increase it back to nine points (49-40) on their next two possessions. They held the nine point lead as late as 13:07 (53-45) when Indiana Wesleyan finally made their move.

Two Hopkins free throws and a basket by sophomore guard Jordan Weidner trimmed the score to 53-48. IWU finally cut the deficit to fewer than five points when junior guard Aaron Martin hit one free throw. He missed the second but freshman guard Zac Vandewater grabbed the rebound and was fouled. He hit one free throw as Saint Francis led 57-54 with nine minutes remaining.

Almost two minutes later Hopkins hit an old-fashion 3-point play to tie the score 57-57. It was the first tie or lead for Indiana Wesleyan since 16-16 midway through the first half.

But after fighting so hard to get back in the game Indiana Wesleyan collapsed after finally tying the score. Saint Francis scored five straight points to lead 62-57 with 5:44 to go. Weidner scored in the paint on the next Indiana Wesleyan possession to draw within three but USF's Kevin Bloom drilled a 3 to double the advantage to 65-59. Indiana Wesleyan would get no closer than four the rest of the day.

"They just came in and outplayed us a majority of the game," stated Tonagel. "And when we finally did catch them our margin of error was slim. We had a turnover and then gave up a layup. If you're going to make a comeback you're going to need to be near perfect on both ends of the floor which we certainly were not."

Hopkins hit a free throw to draw within 69-65 with 26 seconds left. But the Cougars hit 7-of-8 free throws, including 6-of-6 by Kevin Dawson, to claim the win and the spot in the conference finals.

"We came out and played hard in the second half but we still made mistakes," added Hopkins. "They're correctable mistakes too which is disappointing."

Saint Francis was led by seniors Dawson and guard Q Owens. Dawson scored 27 points on 8-of-11 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds while Owens added 16 points, seven boards, and 11 assists.

"They had seniors that played well," quoted Tonagel. "They played with that sense of urgency."

Indiana Wesleyan will now look forward as their next game will be at the NAIA National Championship on March 7-13 in Branson, Missouri.

"We have a couple days off now and we're going to come back and watch some film and hopefully get better with that," said Hopkins. "We're definitely going to get in and shoot free throws. Then we'll find out who we play (at nationals)."

Indiana Wesleyan clinched the first MCC automatic berth to the national tournament by winning the MCC regular season championship. On Wednesday, February 29 the NAIA will release its final poll, national qualifiers, and then the bracket for the national tournament.

"We certainly have to get better and you get better while you wait," stated Tonagel. "We're going to use this time to get better and make a run in the national tournament."