McLean County Times

Freshman Josh Fridman led Illinois Wesleyan University's men's basketball team to a victory over Augustana College, securing a spot in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Tournament Championship. The Titans, ranked 16th, defeated the Vikings with a score of 70-65, improving their record to 21-5.

Fridman scored a career-high 21 points on 6-of-11 shooting, including five three-pointers. Senior Hakim Williams contributed 11 points, while junior Karlo Colak added nine. Senior Marko Anderson was notable for his nine rebounds and defensive contributions with three steals.

The Titans made 45.1 percent of their shots from the field and were successful on ten three-point attempts out of twenty-four. Trey Bazzell also contributed two three-pointers. At the free throw line, IWU finished at 14-for-25 compared to Augustana's slightly better performance at 12-for-20. Overall, Augustana shot 22-for-55 from the field and managed nine successful three-point attempts.

Illinois Wesleyan won the rebounding battle by one and set a program record with nine blocks in the game. Williams, Mason Funk, Colak, Nathan Boldt each had two blocks; Nick Roper added another block to contribute defensively. The Titans also led in points off turnovers (24-21), bench points (20-13), and points in the paint (26-14). Augustana had an edge in fastbreak scoring (12-4) and second-chance scoring (18-17).

A key moment came when leading by two early in the first half; Fridman's free throw initiated a run that extended IWU's lead significantly before halftime. Boldt's block and subsequent plays involving Williams helped extend their lead further.

In the second half, Augustana narrowed the gap but never overtook IWU's lead. Despite being challenged late in the game with a close scoreline of 66-63 under a minute remaining, Funk's crucial free throws secured IWU’s win along with Anderson’s transition bucket sealing it at 70-65.

The Titans will compete next against either Carthage College or North Central College for tomorrow’s CCIW Tournament Championship title.