MARION, Ind. -- Luckey Arena was site of one of three upsets in the opening round of the Crossroads League Men's Basketball Tournament tonight as No. 1-seed Indiana Wesleyan University lost 81-69 to No. 8-seed Huntington University.

Three of the top four seeds in the tournament fell to the lower seeds as only No. 3-seed Bethel (Ind.) College survived the frenzy of the First Round. The First Round exit is the first for Indiana Wesleyan since 2008.

"I didn't think we would come out and play soft and I didn't think we would come out and play uninspired," said an exasperated Indiana Wesleyan head coach Greg Tonagel. "This is postseason basketball and you're playing for something. It's disappointing. This is the most disappointing loss I've been a part of in my eight years here. Not the fact you lose, the fact of how you played. There was lack of passion, lack of energy, we were soft. Very disappointing."

Indiana Wesleyan (25-6) never led Wednesday and the last tie was at 6-6. Momentum of the game swung completely to Huntington as the middle of the first half approached with HU up 19-16. Huntington would go on a 12-0 run to nearly double their advantage at 31-16. With a seven and a half minute scoring drought, senior forward Patrick Hopkins finally scored for Indiana Wesleyan with 4:01 on the clock.

Huntington (17-14) completed the first half scoring with the clock winding down as junior forward Shane Merryman scored in the paint to give the Foresters the 39-25 halftime lead. HU shot 57.1-percent (16 of 28) in the opening half.

The start of the second half was not any better for the Wildcats. The Foresters continued to up their advantage which reached a peak of 25 points with the score at 63-38 and 10:33 remaining.

"We were soft defensively in all areas," continued Tonagel. "You can't dig a hole of 25. We were bad offensively too. In the first half we were taking quick shots, turning it over. When you're bad on both ends it going to get ugly. And tonight it got ugly."

Indiana Wesleyan switched to a zone and changed to a more up style approach. The move worked as Indiana Wesleyan went on a 15-1 run to narrow the deficit to 64-53 with five minutes to go. But Huntington survived the threat with some timely shots and forced turnovers to take a 72-55 lead. Indiana Wesleyan got as close as 10 points in the final minute.

Four Wildcats scored in double figures, led by senior guard George Jones IV with 21 points off the bench. Weidner added 19 points and five assists, Hopkins added a double-double with 15 points and 14 rebounds, and sophomore guard DJ Bettinger scored 12.

Merryman led all players with 28 points. TJ Short added 16 and Coin Featherston tallied 12 for the Foresters. HU ended the evening shooting 53.6-percent (30 of 56) from the field and 37.5-percent (9 of 24) from 3-point range.

Indiana Wesleyan now has two weeks to prepare for the NAIA National Tournament. IWU will learn their opponent a week from today when the NAIA releases the bracket. The National Tournament is March 6-12 in Point Lookout, Missouri.