Bloomington, Ill., Dec. 19, 2019 – Junior guard Jack Nolan scored 20 of his career-high 31 points in the final 8:29 to help lead the No. 10-ranked Washington University in St. Louis men's basketball team to a 97-88 win at No. 23 Illinois Wesleyan Thursday in Bloomington, Ill.
WashU won its seventh-straight game to improve to 9-1, while IWU fell to 7-3. The Titans have suffered all three losses at the Shirk Center.
Nolan was 11-of-18 from the field and hit 5-of-10 from three-point range, and is averaging 29.5 points per game in ranked wins this season over No. 17 Augustana (Ill.) and No. 23 IWU.
Senior forward DeVaughn Rucker had a season-high 17 points and seven rebounds, while sophomore forward Justin Hardy had 13 points and nine boards. Junior guard Payden Webb added eight points off the bench as WashU had an 18-6 advantage in bench points.
The Bears shot 53.0 percent (35-66) from the field and hit 18-of-22 from the free-throw line. WashU outrebounded IWU 41-24 and turned 17 offensive rebounds into 26 second-chance points.
Webb came off the bench and hit a pair of threes to give WashU the two-point lead at 16-14. The second three by Webb ignited a 10-0 run to make it 23-14. The Bears hit 13 of their first 17 shots from the field.
Nolan hit a three-pointer with the shot clock expiring to get the lead to double figures at 26-16 with 9:02 to play. A three-point play by Rucker pushed the lead to 31-18.
WashU took a 43-39 lead at half as Nester, Nolan and Rucker each had nine points. The Bears shot 60.7 percent (17-28) from the field and had a 12-2 advantage in bench points. Grant Wolfe led IWU with 14 points.
Hardy, who played just five minutes in the first half, had seven of the first 11 points for WashU in the second half and his three put the Bears up 54-47.
Peter Lambesis hit a corner three with 9:11 left to give IWU a 63-61 lead, but Nolan scored 17-straight points for WashU to get the lead back to 86-78.
Wolfe led IWU 28 points, while Lambesis (19), Charlie Bair (14 pts, 10 reb) and Doug Wallen (13) scored in double figures. The Titans shot a season-high 54.0 percent (34-63) from the field, but hit just 9-of-27 from three-point range.
WashU has 11 days off before playing its final non-conference game of the year on Tuesday, Dec. 31 at Millikin University.
BEAR NOTEBOOK: IWU leads the all-time series 23-18, and the road team has won the last four meetings … The Bears have outrebounded all 10 of its opponents this season … WashU is 2-0 against ranked teams this season and 4-3 in head coach Pat Juckem's two seasons … Freshman Spencer Boehm made his first career start and had six points and four rebounds … Nolan is 102 points shy of 1,000 for his career.