LINCOLN, Neb. – Top-seeded Nebraska Wesleyan advanced to the IIAC Postseason Tournament Championship game with an impressive 94-77 victory over Wartburg College in the IIAC semifinals on Wednesday night (Feb. 22) in Snyder Arena. With the victory, the Prairie Wolves will now host the IIAC Tournament Championship game on Saturday night at 7 pm facing the No. 6 seed Central College
Nebraska Wesleyan ends the streak of road teams winning every IIAC Tournament game the past two seasons as they become the first home team to win in nine games.
The Prairie Wolves maintained their high level of offensive performance despite having over a week off since their last time out. NWU shot 62.5 percent from the field and nailed 16-32 from 3-point range and Wartburg did not have an answer.
It was the Nate Bahe show in the first half for Nebraska Wesleyan. Bahe scored all 24 of his points in the first 20 minutes, making 10-13 from the floor and 4-7 on 3-pointers.
NWU led the entire first half and got up by as many as 14 points with just under 3:30 to play. They would take a 45-34 advantage with them into the locker room.
The Prairie Wolves started the second half very sluggish with turnovers on four of their first five possessions. The Knights were unable to take advantage as they scored only two points in the first five minutes of the half. The two teams combined to score only 11 points in the opening five minutes.
A pair of Wartburg free throws with 13:50 remaining cut the lead down to 51-43 as the Prairie Wolves lead was shrunk to eight points. NWU then went on a 17-5 run over the next four minutes to build up a 20-point advantage and they never looked back.
The Knights did pull within 13 points at the 7:03 mark, but the Prairie Wolves responded. Nate Schimonitz hit back-to-back 3-pointers, then Jack Hiller made an emphatic fast break two-handed dunk off a steal from Ryan Garver to send the home crowd into a frenzy and seal the victory.
Schimonitz had a monster game with a double-double of 24 points and 10 assists. Schimonitz scored 14 points in the second half, and ended the game 6-7 on 3-pointers. He was 9-11 from the floor overall to share game-high honors with Nate Bahe.
Cooper Cook was the other NWU player to score in double figures as he had 10 points. Ryan Garver put together another solid all around game with eight points, eight assists, four steals and four rebounds in 27 minutes as he was sidelined with fouls.
Wartburg was led by Jaran Sabus with 19 points, while Cam Kickbush scored 12 points, all in the first half. The Knights shot 48.3 percent from the floor, but only hit 6-25 from 3-point range.
NWU shot over 60 percent for the second straight game and the fifth time this season.
Nebraska Wesleyan will now take on the No. 6 seed Central College who will appear in their third straight IIAC Tournament Championship game. Last year it was the Dutch that upset No. 1 NWU in the postseason tournament.