Waverly, Iowa -- High-caliber basketball was on display inside Levick Gymnasium as Nebraska Wesleyan and Wartburg battled it out for 40 minutes. The Prairie Wolves, ranked No. 1 in the nation this week, eeked out an 85-82 win over the Knights. Now 13-1 in conference play and 22-1 overall, NWU is the regular-season conference champion for the third straight year. The P-Wolves have two games remaining before hosting a first-round A-R-C tournament game a week from this Thursday (February 21). Wartburg is now 9-5 in the conference, still alive for second place a first-round tournament bye, and 15-8 .
The Knights used a late first-half spurt to take a 46-36 lead into the locker room.
Cam Kickbush made an acrobatic layup with 48 seconds left to make 40-35, Wartburg. A heads-up steal on the inbounds play by
Max Smith Drahos and an and-one on the play made it 43-35 just three seconds later. A foul shot by NWU and a three by Wartburg's
Spencer Touro provided the halftime margin.
The key stretch in the second half came after Wartburg's
Aidan Weber made it 52-41, Knights. The basket at the 16:40 was answered by a 17-0 run for the Wolves. Threes by
Cooper Cook (2) and
Jack Hiller (1) were big during that stretch. The run reached 25-6 before Wartburg regained its legs.
Eventually, the game was tied at 75 when Cook hit a giant three from the right wing. The Wolves were strong at the FT line down the stretch as well. It was
Clay Reimers's two FTs that put NWU up 85-80 with under six seconds remaining.
