MARION, Ind. -- A top-five battle took place inside a packed Luckey Arena as No. 3 Saint Francis (Ind.) held off a furious rally by No. 4 Indiana Wesleyan University men’s basketball for an 87-74 final. IWU trailed by as many as 22 points and got as close as 5 points before USF pulled away to clinch the outright Crossroads League title.

Game Vitals

• Score:  Indiana Wesleyan - 74   |   Saint Francis - 87
• Records:  Indiana Wesleyan 26-4, 14-4 Crossroads League   |   Saint Francis 26-4, 16-2 Crossroads League
• NAIA Top- 25 Rank:  Indiana Wesleyan - No. 4   |   Saint Francis - No. 3
• Location:   Luckey Arena   |   Indiana Wesleyan University   |   Marion, Indiana 
• Brief:  A top-five battle took place inside a packed Luckey Arena as No. 3 Saint Francis (Ind.) held off a furious rally by No. 4 Indiana Wesleyan University men’s basketball for an 87-74 final. IWU trailed by as many as 22 points and got as close as 5 points before USF pulled away to clinch the outright Crossroads League title.
   

What Went Down

• Saint Francis trailed by two early but a 13-0 run gave them a 22-11 lead midway through the first half. USF did not trail again.
• Indiana Wesleyan closed to within 4 points at 22-18 but Saint Francis used their second big run of the first half -- that of the 22-4 variety -- to build a game-high 22 points lead of 44-22 just before halftime.
• The Wildcats chipped away at the deficit and cut it to single digits at 60-51 on a Bob Peters (JR/Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio) 4-point play with 10:45 left in the game.
• The closest the game got in the second half was five points which happened twice. The final of those came on a Jacob Johnson (SO/Mooresville, Ind.) rebound and bucket for a 64-59 score with 6:19 to play.
• Lane Mahurin (JR/Rockville, Ind.) fouled out with 5:07 to play with Indiana Wesleyan trailing by five. The rest of the game saw USF outscore IWU 23-15 to pull away for the victory.
• Indiana Wesleyan was held to 35-percent (25 of 71) shooting for the game and just 27-percent (9 of 33) in the first half.
• The Wildcats attempted 71 shots to just 49 attempts for the Cougars.
• Saint Francis dominated the boards by a 45-28 margin.
• Lane Mahurin had team-highs of 21 points and 6 rebounds.
• USF’s Austin Fox led all players with 28 points and 14 rebounds.
• Lane Mahurin and Jacob Johnson both fouled out of the game for Indiana Wesleyan. Josh Mawhorr (SR/Muncie, Ind.) and Bob Peters each finished with four fouls.
  
   

Coach’s Corner

• “We didn’t play well. We didn’t play well on both ends. They really came at us and we didn’t respond too well. We were bleeding defensively all over the place and then we just forced stuff offensively.”  -- IWU head coach Greg Tonagel
   

Extra! Extra!

• The loss ended the Indiana Wesleyan hopes to share the Crossroads League regular season championship with Saint Francis. USF wins the title outright with a 16-2 record as IWU earns second place at 14-4.
• Indiana Wesleyan fails to win or share the Crossroads League regular season championship for the first time since 2007-08. IWU had won seven consecutive regular season championships.
• It was Senior Day inside Luckey Arena. Indiana Wesleyan celebrated seniors Jonny Marlin (SR/Greenwood, Ind.) and Josh Mawhorr in a pregame ceremony.
  
   

Next Time Out

• Indiana Wesleyan begins with postseason play next week as today’s game concluded the regular season. Indiana Wesleyan is the No. 2-seed in the Crossroads League Tournament and will host No. 7-seed Huntington (Ind.) in quarterfinal action at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, February 24 in Luckey Arena.