Tiger Men's Basketball Falls to IWU

BOURBONNAIS, Ill. – The No. 17 Olivet Nazarene University men's basketball team opened its 2020-2021 schedule on Tuesday, falling to No. 3 the Indiana Wesleyan University Wildcats, 117-82, inside McHie Arena.

In the beginning of the first half, The Tigers and Wildcats played a close couple minutes. The Tigers received immediate production from their junior center Alex Gross (JR/Hope, Ind.). Gross scored the first eight points for the Tigers until Cade Chitty (JR/White Heath, Ill.) hit a layup making the score 12-10, Wildcats. At the score 18-14, the Wildcats scored eight unanswered points to grow their lead to 12 at 26-14. At 28-18, the Tigers scored nine unanswered points highlighted by a three-pointer by John Contant (SR/Hickory Hills, Ill.) making the score 30-27. After a Wildcat layup, C.J. Smith made a three-pointer cutting the lead to 32-30.

The Tigers could only muster 10 more points the rest of the half as the Wildcats took a 49-40 lead going into the half.

Halftime: No. 3 Indiana Wesleyan 49, No. 17 Olivet Nazarene 40

At the beginning of the second half, the Tigers scored 6 of the first 11 points making the score 54-46. The Wildcats then scored the next 23 points until senior Gavin Griggs (SR/Middletown, Ind.) broke that run with a made free throw making the score 77-49. The Tigers tried to cut into that lead scoring 7 of the next 10 points highlighted by five points by Gross. The Wildcats led 83-58. At the score 87-60, the Tigers scored the next 10 points making the score 92-70.

The Tigers only could score 12 more points and fell to the Wildcats 117-82

Final: No. 3 Indiana Wesleyan 117, No. 17 Olivet Nazarene 82

Game Vitals

No. 3 Indiana Wesleyan 117, No. 17 Olivet Nazarene 82

Records: No. 3 Indiana Wesleyan, 1-0 | No. 17 Olivet Nazarene, 0-1

McHie Arena | Olivet Nazarene University | Bourbonnais, Ill.

Quick Hits

• Gross led the Tigers with a double-double with 28 points, which is a new career high, and 10 rebounds
• Smith followed Gross with 13 points and Griggs rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10 points off the bench
• Bryson Grasse (JR/Lakeland, Fla.) followed Gross with five rebounds off the bench
• Contant and Landon Pflederer (FR/Tremont, Ill.) led the Tigers with four assists
• Kyle Mangas led the Wildcats with 26 points and Seth Maxwell led the Wildcats with 14 rebounds

What's Next

The Tigers (0-1) travel to Winona Lake, Ind. for a non-conference contest against Grace College. Tipoff is set for Monday, November 2 at 6 p.m. CST.

--ONU—

Contact: Sam Viebrock, Sports Information Director, stviebrock@olivet.edu