McLean County Times

The Illinois Wesleyan University men's basketball team secured an 82-63 victory over Westminster College during the Gorlok Classic in St. Louis, Missouri, on November 22, 2024. The win maintains IWU's unbeaten record at 4-0 for the season, while Westminster falls to 0-4.

Nick Roper led the team with a performance of 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting in his hometown. Freshman Josh Fridman contributed significantly off the bench with a career-high of 14 points and three three-pointers. Seniors Trey Bazzell and Marko Anderson added to the score with 14 and 10 points respectively. Anderson also achieved a team-high of eight rebounds, while Bazzell successfully scored four three-pointers.

Senior Hakim Williams filled the stat sheet with ten points, six rebounds, five assists, four steals, and two blocks. Sophomore Mason Funk provided six points and matched Anderson's rebounding total with six boards while leading in assists with six.

Illinois Wesleyan shot at a rate of nearly 46% from the field and made twelve successful three-point attempts out of twenty-eight tries. They completed fourteen free throws out of twenty-three opportunities and recorded seventeen steals against Westminster's thirteen turnovers.

Westminster had a field goal percentage of just over thirty-nine percent but was effective at the free throw line making fourteen out of sixteen shots.

IWU slightly edged Westminster in rebounds by a margin of three and held advantages in several categories including second-chance scoring (12-6), points off turnovers (19-10), points in the paint (32-16), fastbreak scoring (9-1), and bench contributions (41-31).

Six successful three-pointers helped IWU secure a nine-point lead by halftime. Key plays included passes from Funk that set up Bazzell for triples extending their advantage early on.

Despite Westminster closing in to tie at fifty-one all after halftime, timely scores from Williams followed by consecutive threes from Bazzell and Fridman initiated an essential seven-point run securing their lead once more. In final minutes Illinois Wesleyan dominated further solidifying their win through an impressive sixteen-to-four scoring run over eight minutes.

The Titans will face Webster University next as part of this weekend's schedule on November 23rd at three o'clock p.m.