MARION, Ind. -- The final score resembled a football shootout more than a men's college basketball game as No. 4 Indiana Wesleyan University won a 48-44 slugfest against visiting Marian (Ind.) University in Luckey Arena.

Senior forward Patrick Hopkins saved the Wildcats with yet another double-double as he had game-highs of 18 points and 16 rebounds. Hopkins was the only Wildcat in double figures and has 12 double-doubles on the season.

Indiana Wesleyan (20-2, 9-1 CL) hoped to put the game away early with a 13-6 lead at the midway point of the first half, a sign of things to come the rest of the afternoon. That was the largest lead of the half as Marian would stay close. IWU took a 21-18 advantage into halftime.

In a game that resembled the Spring Arbor loss from two weeks ago, the low scoring game continued into the second half with Marian (12-8, 4-6 CL) surging ahead early. Marian scored the first five points of the second half for their first lead of the day at 23-21. MU increased their lead to five at 28-23 five minutes into the second half, their largest lead of the day.

With 11 minutes remaining sophomore guard DJ Bettinger scored his first points of the game on a 3-pointer to put Indiana Wesleyan back on top 32-30. Two minutes later with Marian again in the lead, Bettinger hit another long range shot to reposition IWU in the lead for the second time at 37-36.

"DJ stepped up and he has the ability to do that," said Indiana Wesleyan head coach Greg Tonagel. "He tends to hit key shots at big moments and he did that for us today."

The second 3-pointer from Betting ignited the only strong offensive run the Wildcats had on Saturday. IWU scored 11 unanswered points in three and a half minutes to earn its biggest lead of 45-36 with five minutes to go.

A nine point lead with less than five minutes remaining on Saturday seemed overwhelming, but Marian responded with six straight points to close to 45-42.

Nearly two minutes went by without a basket until senior forward Taylor Schoen connected on 1-of-2 free throws with 50 seconds left to increase the lead to 46-42. IWU forced a bad shot and Hopkins pulled down the rebound and was fouled. Hopkins missed the front end of the 1-and-1 with 19 seconds to play and Marian took advantage with a field goal to close the deficit to 46-44 and 12 seconds remaining. There was a foul on the play and Marian missed the free throw and the rebound went to Hopkins, who was fouled again.

This time, Hopkins stepped to the foul line and hit nothing but net on both shots with 11 seconds left. The free throws were the final points of the game in the 48-44 victory.

"Patrick went to the line and hit two big free throws," added Tonagel. "Those were clutch for Pat as he had just missed at the line. I am proud of him for the mental toughness to hit those shots."

After Hopkins' team-leading 18 points, Bettinger's six points were the next highest for Indiana Wesleyan. Junior guard Jordan Weidner finished with a season-low five points but he contributed seven assists while senior guard George Jones IV added five points and five boards off the bench.

Indiana Wesleyan dominated in points in the paint with a 24-12 advantage, with many of those field goals belonging to Hopkins. But Marian made that up in turnovers as they committed just seven, compared to 15 for the Wildcats, as Marian held a 12-2 advantage in points off turnovers.

Indiana Wesleyan takes to the road next week and do not return to Luckey Arena for a week and a half. IWU will next travel to Winona Lake, Indiana for a showdown with No. 22 Grace (Ind.) College on Tuesday. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.