POINT LOOKOUT, Mo. -- Joel Okafor hit one free throw with 2.2 seconds left to break a tie as No. 1 Indiana Wesleyan University outlasted No. 4 Northwestern (Iowa) 77-75 in the 2017 NAIA Division II Men’s Basketball National Championship Round of 16. IWU advances to Saturday’s national quarterfinal for the eighth time since 2007.

GAME VITALS

• 2017 NAIA Division II Men’s Basketball National Championship Round of 16
• Score:  Indiana Wesleyan def. Northwestern, 77-75
• Records:  Indiana Wesleyan  28-7   |   Northwestern 27-8
• NAIA Top- 25 Rank:  Indiana Wesleyan - No. 4   |   Northwestern - No. 13
• NAIA Tournament Seed:  Indiana Wesleyan - No. 1   |   Northwestern - No. 4
• Location:   Keeter Gymnasium   |   College of the Ozarks   |   Point Lookout, Missouri 
   

STAT TRACKER

• Lane Mahurin:  21 points, 9-21 FG, 4 rebounds, 4 assists
• Jacob Johnson:  11 points, 5 rebounds
• Grant Evans:  5 points, 3 rebounds, 4 steals
• Bob Peters:  22 points, 7-15 FG, 4-5 3FG
• Trevor Waite:  7 points, 3-4 FG
• Ben Carlson:  5 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists

FINAL 74 SECONDS RECAP

• Parker Mulder drilled a 3-pointer for Northwestern with 1:14 left to play to tie the score at 72. Bob Peters answered with his own 3-pointer with 44 seconds on the clock but Northwestern drilled another 3 with 26 seconds on the clock for a 75-75 score.
• Indiana Wesleyan held for the last shot and Joel Okafor drove the lane and was fouled with 2.2 seconds remaining. He hit one of his two free throws for a 76-75 lead.
• The Red Raiders attempted to throw the ball to midcourt but the ball sailed out of bounds for a turnover. NWC was forced to foul and Ben Carlson went to the line and hit 1-of-2 free throws for a 77-75 lead with 1.7 seconds left.
• Northwestern heaved a three-quarters length shot at the buzzer that was well off to secure the two point win for Indiana Wesleyan.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Lane Mahurin (16 points) and Bob Peters (12 point) combined for 28 of the 41 Indiana Wesleyan points during the second half.
• Northwestern outrebounded Indiana Wesleyan, 46-26.
• Indiana Wesleyan held two huge advantages on Friday at the foul line and in turnovers. IWU was 9-of-15 (60-percent) from the charity stripe while Northwestern missed their one attempt. Indiana Wesleyan committed just eight turnovers compared to 17 for Northwestern.
• The teams combined for 48 3-point field goal attempts. The Red Raiders connected on half of their 26 attempts while Indiana Wesleyan was 10-of-22 (45-percent).
• Northwestern held multiple seven point leads in the first half while Indiana Wesleyan led by eight (72-64) with 4:03 left in the game.

Extra! Extra!

• This marked the first ever meeting between Indiana Wesleyan and Northwestern.
• Indiana Wesleyan improves to 24-7 at the national tournament while Northwestern is now 30-15.
• Lane Mahurin moved into third place on the Wildcats’ all-time scoring list. He now has 2,245 career points and passed Jordan Weidner today with his 21 points.
• Indiana Wesleyan improves to 8-3 this season in games decided by five points or less and 21-0 when holding opponents to 79 points or less.

COACH TONAGEL SAYS…

• On Joel Okafor effort…
  “I am proud of Joel. He sat for 32 games and then he earned his opportunity by sitting with a good attitude. Now he is making plays to put us in the Elite Eight. That is the epitome of what it means to be ‘I am Third’ in this program. Cheer on your teammates and when it’s your turn they cheer you on.”
   
• On Bob Peters’ mullet…
  “This team battles and finds ways to win. Bob Peters was huge down the stretch. He has that mullet going right now and he can have any type of haircut he wants because he makes big plays.”
  
  On the Northwestern inbounds pass with 2.2 seconds left…
• “They were trying to get the ball to Colton Kooima on the sideline. It was just a bad pass. I was worried he was going to get it and try to flop into one of our guys because he is good at creating contact. That was my biggest concern and we avoided that.”

NEXT TIME OUT

• Indiana Wesleyan plays in the NAIA Division II National Championship Quarterfinals on Saturday at 4 p.m. ET. IWU plays No. 6 Tabor (Kan.) who upset No. 2 Robert Morris (Ill.) 88-82 in the Round of 16. Tabor has wins over two top-10 teams in No. 7 Robert Morris and No. 8 Davenport (Mich.) in the first two rounds of the tournament.