HOLLAND, Mich. – The Illinois Wesleyan men's basketball team upset the No. 1-ranked team in the country, topping Hope 108-101 in two overtimes in the NCAA Division III second round at Holland, Mich. on Saturday (March 3).
In scoring their high-point total for the season, Illinois Wesleyan improved to 21-7 in ending Hope's 23-game winning streak and giving the Flying Dutchmen only their 10th loss at DeVos Fieldhouse in 112 games. Hope's season ends at 27-2.
The Titans will now meet No. 15-ranked Wooster (26-5), who was a 92-79 winner over Capital in the second round, at a site to be announced Sunday.
The other teams in the sectional will be No. 22 Wittenberg, an 87-70 winner over Carroll, and College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin champion North Central, who was a 72-68 winner over Washington U.
"This was about as good of a college basketball game as you'll ever see," said IWU head coach Ron Rose." To be part of a game like this is pretty special and I have ton of respect for Hope College. There was no loser in this game – we just scored more points than they did."
The Titans got off to a slow start, trailing 11-0 before senior Stephen Rudnicki got IWU on the board with a basket at 14:34 to play in the half.
Hope's biggest lead was by 13 at 15-2 with 12:37 left before IWU righted the ship and went on a 23-12 run to get within two at 27-25 with 5:05 remaining.
The Flying Dutchmen score the next six points to lead 33-25 at the 3:29 mark but the Titans closed the half on an 11-5 run to close to within two at 38-36 after an Andrew Ziemnik bucket as time elapsed.
"These guys don't quit," said Rose. "We've been down like that before and I knew we weren't going to quit. We just needed to get our feet underneath us."
The Titans held a 70-63 lead with 6:44 to go in the game before Hope went on a 13-6 run the rest of the game to tie the issue at 76-76 and force the first overtime. Each team scored 10 in the first overtime and the Titans outscored Hope 22-15 in the final 5 minute period.
Senior Jordan Zimmer scored 28 points to lead Illinois Wesleyan while four others were in double figures – senior John Koschnitzky with 19, sophomore Victor Davis with 17, Rudnicki with a career-high 16 and sophomore Andrew Ziemnik with 11.
The Titans led Hope 49-41 in rebounds and snagged 19 offensive boards. Koschnitzky had eight rebounds and Davis corralled seven while senior guard Eliud Gonzalez dished out 10 assists.
Illinois Wesleyan shot 42.1 percent from the field (32 of 76) and made 9 of 28 3-pointers while connecting on 35 of 47 free throws (74.5 percent). The 47 free throw attempts is second most in a game at IWU and the 35 made tosses is tied for second. The records are 40 made and 50 attempts against Grinnell in 2001.
Hope junior Nate Snuggerud scored 40 points while Peter Bunn had 19 points and 12 rebounds.
The Flying Dutchmen shot 52.8 percent from the floor (38 of 72) and made 5 of 17 treys (29.4 percent). Hope was hurt at the foul line, sinking just 57.1 percent of their tries (20 of 35).
NOTES: Before the weekend there were 15 Division III schools with both men's and women's basketball teams in the NCAA tournament – there are two remaining: Amherst and Illinois Wesleyan…Titan teams are 45-20 in the NCAA tourney…This will be IWU's 15th appearance in the round of 16 in the NCAA Division III tournament…The 108 points is the most scored by an IWU team in the six seasons under Ron Rose and the most since a 113-99 NCAA tournament win over Puget Sound in 2006...In what is a preview for the next three seasons, IWU and Hope are scheduled to play in a Florida tournament next season and then have a home-and home agreement for the next two years after that