BLOOMINGTON, Ill. -- The Illinois Wesleyan men's basketball team lost an 83-74 decision to North Central at the Shirk Center on Tuesday, Feb. 20, but will have a chance to exact revenge when the two teams meet again in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin semifinals on Friday in Rock Island, Ill.
The Titans are 18-6 overall and 12-4 in the CCIW, sharing the league title with Augustana, who came from 15 points behind to defeat Elmhurst 79-77 on Tuesday. By virtue of the tiebreaker, Augustana will host the conference tournament with game one pitting IWU against North Central (18-7, 11-5 CCIW) at 5 p.m. Friday.
The other semifinal will have Wheaton against Augie. The Thunder lost 71-66 to Carroll on Tuesday.
Illinois Wesleyan got off to a slow start, making just one of its first 10 from the field and falling behind 10-0 and 20-4 with 11 :10 left in the half. The Titans closed to within six points at 38-32 with 1:17 to go and trailed by that margin at half (40-34). IWU shot 48 percent in the half (12 of 25) while the Cardinals shot 55.6 percent (15 of 27).
Illinois Wesleyan snagged its first lead of the game at 54-53 on a basket by Alex O'Neill with 10:03 to play in the game but a 14-2 surge over the next three minutes to grab a 67-56 lead with 6:36 left. IWU got back within five points late but could never close the gap.
Brady Rose led IWU with 17 points while sophomore Miles Curry came off the bench to score 15 and get a team-high five rebounds as Illinois Wesleyan was outrebounded, 40-25. Junior Jason Gregoire netted 15 points and O'Neill added 10.
Alex Sorensen scored 22 points with eight rebounds while Connor Raridon had 18 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists. Mike Pollack did not miss a shot from the field, going 5-for-5 with four 3-pointers and got 17 points and Matt Cappelletti added 14 with seven rebounds.