POINT LOOKOUT, Mo. -- No. 5 Indiana Wesleyan University men’s basketball held off a furious late rally by No. 2 Davenport (Mich.) for a 66-65 victory to move on to the NAIA Division II National Championship Game. IWU led by 17 points early in the second half and held on for a one point victory and will now face No. 1 Saint Francis (Ind.) for the national championship.

Game Vitals

• Score:  Indiana Wesleyan - 66   |   Davenport - 65
• Records:  Indiana Wesleyan 32-5   |   Davenport 32-5
• NAIA Top- 25 Rank:  Indiana Wesleyan - No. 5   |   Davenport - No. 2
• NAIA Championship Seed:  Indiana Wesleyan - No. 2 seed   |   Davenport - No. 1 seed
• Location:   Keeter Gymnasium   |   College of the Ozarks   |   Point Lookout, Missouri 
   

What Went Down

• Davenport fired out of the gates and opened the night on a 12-6 run.
• Indiana Wesleyan struggled from the floor early with just six points in the first 7:34 of the game. IWU shot a mere 3-of-11 (27.3-percent) during that stretch.
• From the 12:26 mark in the first half it was all Indiana Wesleyan until the halftime buzzer as Indiana Wesleyan outscored Davenport 34-13.
• The Wildcats opened that dominating run with a 15-0 spurt to take a 21-12 advantage.
• Davenport went 5:52 without a field until Wes Webbert broke that streak with a bucket at the 6:46 mark.
• Two times in the opening 20 minutes Indiana Wesleyan led by 15 points. The 40-25 halftime cushion was the second of those two occurrences.
• The Indiana Wesleyan lead held between 13-17 points for the first 7:00 of the second half. Nick Gamble connected on two free throws with 13:00 remaining to cut the IWU lead to 46-35.
• 3-point buckets for the Panthers on two out of three possessions suddenly trimmed the deficit to seven at 48-41 with 11:12 to go. 
• The Panthers narrowed the deficit to 62-60 and gained possession with 1:54 on the game clock. A major call happened on that DU possession as Dominez Burnett, who was named the NAIA DII National Player of the Year for the second straight year, committed an offensive foul for his fifth of the game. Burnett finished with a season-low seven points and lowest point total since January 18, 2014.
• On the next possession Lane Mahurin (JR/Rockville, Ind.) scored in the paint for a 64-60 lead. But Davenport responded with a bucket for a 64-62 score with 59 seconds on the clock.
• Following an empty Wildcat possession, Davenport had the ball with 22 seconds left and were down two. Wayne Bradford drove and just missed the game-tying bucket. The rebound went long where Bob Peters (JR/Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio) gained possession. He raced down the court and was fouled with 2.0 seconds left. He calmly sank both free throws for a 66-62 score. A meaningless Davenport 3-pointer at the buzzer made the final score 66-65.
• Bob Peters scored a team-high 17 points while Lane Mahurin added 12 (all in the second half) and Jacob Johnson (SO/Mooresville, Ind.) had 10.
• Jonny Marlin (SR/Greenwood, Ind.) finished with 9 points and a career-high 11 rebounds.
  
  
   

Coach’s Corner

• “Obviously they are a tough team. We knew they were going to make a run. We just got stagnant on offense. But we didn’t get caught up in it and we just kept playing, grinding it out. We have some tough kids on this team and great leadership and they never stopped believing. A lot of teams would fold when something like that happens but this team came together and found a way to get it done.”  -- IWU head coach Greg Tonagel
   

Extra! Extra!

• Davenport defeated Indiana Wesleyan 79-75 in last season’s NAIA Division II Men’s Basketball National Championship Quarterfinals.
• No. 1 Saint Francis (Ind.) eliminated No. 7 IU East 79-55 in the first national semifinal game of the night to advance to the national championship game on Tuesday.
• Greg Tonagel earned his 300th career victory. He is now 300-83 in his 11th season at the helm of Indiana Wesleyan.
• Indiana Wesleyan improves to 2-0 all time in national semifinal games while Davenport falls to 0-3. DU has lost national semifinal games in 2012, 2015, and 2016.
• The 66 points by Indiana Wesleyan is a season-low. The previous low for IWU was 67 in a loss to Saint Francis.
• Indiana Wesleyan tied a season-low with four 3-pointers made. All four 3-pointers came in the first half.
  
   

Next Time Out

• Indiana Wesleyan and top-ranked Saint Francis (Ind.) will battle for the fourth time this season in the NAIA Division II National Championship Game. USF has won all three meetings. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET in Keeter Gymnasium and the game will be broadcast live on ESPN3.