MARION, Ind. -- Senior guard Derrick Troyer drove into the lane and scored the game-winning basket with 2.4 seconds left to lift No. 15-ranked Indiana Wesleyan University men's basketball to a critical 72-70 victory over No. 20-ranked University of Saint Francis (Ind.) tonight inside Luckey Arena.

"Derrick had it going on," said Indiana Wesleyan head coach Greg Tonagel. "He was confident. I really trust him with the ball in his hands. What we didn't want was for them to get another opportunity. So we were going to take that last shot and give ourselves time for an offensive rebound. But he was so wide open and made a great finish."

Saint Francis (18-9, 9-6 MCC) had one last chance to win or tie the game. The inbounds pass went to half court but no Cougars were around as Indiana Wesleyan gobbled up the ball and sealed the huge victory.

"You don't want to give them anything deep on the inbounds," continued Tonagel. "If they were going to catch it, it was going to be a half court heave. I thought our guys defended well and they didn't get a shot off. We're fortunate to walk out with a victory. That's a very good ball club."

Indiana Wesleyan (18-9, 10-5 MCC) and Saint Francis entered play tied for second place in the Mid-Central College Conference, trailing No. 5-ranked Grace (Ind.) College by one game. The IWU win plus a Grace home loss to Marian (Ind.) University tonight moves Indiana Wesleyan and Grace into a first place tie in the standings.

"It's a huge win," Tonagel said. "We let a couple go early in the year and we have had to make them up. The game in Huntington was huge and this one was obviously huge because it gave us a little separation because we were tied with Saint Francis. Our guys just have to stay focused on key basketball games ahead of us. We still have to play hard and play every day."

And that is what Troyer did over the final six minutes of the game. IWU trailed 65-64 with less than six to play when Troyer took over for the Wildcats. He scored the final eight points for IWU with three baskets giving the Wildcats the lead and his other field goal tying the score.

"Seniors make big plays in big moments," stated Tonagel. "Derrick Troyer really came through for us in clutch moments. When it comes to this time of year in those moments you really lean on your seniors and although we only have two of them they certainly came up big this evening."

The entire second half was closely contested as neither team could build a lead greater than five points. Saint Francis earned their five point lead when senior guard Q Owens drilled a 3 for a 49-44 advantage with 17:31 remaining.

With less than 12 minutes remaining and Indiana Wesleyan trailing 54-51, IWU junior forward Taylor Schoen went to work. He paced a 10-2 Wildcat run for Indiana Wesleyan's five point lead (61-56) with eight points in a two minute span. It would account for all his scoring for the evening which tied his career-high.

"Taylor is an energy guy. He certainly brought that energy tonight," said Tonagel. "And the thing that I love about Taylor is no matter when he is called upon he gives you everything he's got. Tonight he played more minutes. But he always comes ready to work and set a great example for our young guys."

On the next Cougar possession, junior guard Kevin Bloom drilled a deep 3-pointer to narrow the score to 61-59 with 9:15 on the clock. From that point on the game was always within two points and there were three ties and six lead changes.

Troyer finished with a game-high 21 points on 10-of-13 shooting for the third highest scoring output in his collegiate career. He also added four assists to just two turnovers.

Junior forward Patrick Hopkins earned a double-double with 18 points and a game-best 14 rebounds. He gathered six of Indiana Wesleyan's 20 offensive rebounds in the win.

"18 and 14, that's a big game for a big boy," Tonagel said. "He had that look in his eyes that he was going to do great things tonight. They have some quality bigs and those guys were battling on both ends of the floor."

Sophomore guard Jordan Weidner added 11 points and junior guard Aaron Martin contributed 10 points, all in the first half. Indiana Wesleyan finished at 47.1-percent (32 of 68) shooting on the night and held a 40-30 advantage on the glass.

Owens led Saint Francis with 19 points with 14 of those points coming in the opening half. He was 8-of-15 from the floor and 3-of-7 from deep. Owens entered play ranked third in the MCC scoring 19.7 points per game.

"Senior David Peters played really good defense down the stretch and I thought he really wore Q Owens down," added Tonagel. "We started taking away Owen's right hand because he kept beating us going right. He's very good going right. We finally overplayed him a little in the second half and took away some tendencies of his."

Just two weeks ago Indiana Wesleyan was three games out of first place in the MCC. A five game win streak now has Indiana Wesleyan tied with Grace atop the league with 10-5 records.

"I would have thought five losses would win the league but I'm not sure five is going to win this league now," said Tonagel. "There's a lot of parody and still a lot of basketball left to be played. With Marian winning they are back in the race and people haven't been talking about them. Just a lot of basketball left to be played."

Indiana Wesleyan will hit the road the next time out at Bethel (Ind.) College. The game is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Saturday, February 11 in Mishawka, Indiana.

Game Photos