POINT LOOKOUT, Mo. --The defending national champions began the quest of a second straight title Wednesday night with a 77-56 victory over Brescia (Ky.) in the 2015 NAIA Division II Men’s Basketball National Championship First Round game at Point Lookout, Missouri.

The Wildcats became the first team in NAIA Division II history to win all five of its tournament games by double digits last year en route to the first national championship in program history. Bethel (Ind.) is the only school to win back-to-back title which they did in 1997-98.

Indiana Wesleyan has now won six straight national tournament games by double digits, beginning with their First Round victory in 2014. IWU is 15-6 all time in eight national tournament appearances.

Before battling opponents on the court this week in Branson, top-seeded Indiana Wesleyan was forced to battle the flu bug that was passed around the team in the days preceding the tournament.

The first few moments did not look great as Brescia (19-11) opened with the first five points of the game. But scoring became contagious for Indiana Wesleyan as they responded with a 16-3 run and was never threatened again. IWU went into halftime leading 39-25.

Indiana Wesleyan continued to stretch out the lead over the final 20 minutes. Brescia would get no closer than the 14 point halftime score. IWU led by as many as 23 points in the game before wrapping up the game 77-56.

“I thought our guys responded well,” said IWU head coach Greg Tonagel. “It wasn’t the prettiest of games but considering what we’ve been through with the flu the past five days I was proud of our effort. It was a little bit sloppy but it’s the first game out here. We were able to get the nerves out.”

Six Wildcats led a balanced offensive attack with nine or more points. Bob Peters (SO/Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio) scored a team-high 13 points, with 11 coming in the first half. Lane Mahurin (SO/Rockville, Ind.) finished with 12 points while Josh Mawhorr (JR/Muncie, Ind.) and Jonny Marlin (JR/Greenwood, Ind.) each added 10. DJ Bettinger (SR/Richfield, Ohio) and Jacob Johnson (FR/Mooresville, Ind.) each tallied nine points.

Tonagel was pleased with the production he received from players making their first appearance in Branson. “Jacob was awesome tonight. He was all over the place and made a lot of plays. Johnny played well. He has been the sickest of our guys and he did all right tonight. So we got a lot of contributions from the first year guys.”

The defense clamped down on a solid Bearcat offense. The Wildcats held them to 21 points under their season average and the 56 points is a season-low. The Bearcats entered play shooting 50-percent from the field and were limited to just 43-percent (23 of 53) tonight.

“We held them 20 points under their average,” continued Tonagel. “This team can score and we had guys all over the place. I was very proud of the effort.”

Indiana Wesleyan dominated the turnover battle. IWU outscored Brescia 23-7 on points off turnovers as Indiana Wesleyan forced 19 Brescia mistakes.

The win tonight set a new program record for wins in a season with 32. The old record of 31 was set last season when the team went 31-6. The Bearcats season ends at 19-11.

Indiana Wesleyan advances to the NAIA Sweet 16 at 5 p.m. ET on Friday, March 13. IWU plays the winner of No. 16-seed Warner Pacific (Ore.) and Olivet Nazarene (Ill.).

“Both teams are co-champion of their league. Warner Pacific plays all zone and are really athletic. Olivet Nazarene is one of the best shooting teams in the country and executes their stuff very well. It should be an interesting game.”