Box Score Bloomington, Ill. Dec. 5, 2015 – The No. 14-ranked Washington University in St. Louis men's basketball team shot a season-low 36.5 percent from the field as the Bears suffered their first loss of the season in a 67-57 defeat at Illinois Wesleyan University Saturday night at the Shirk Center in Bloomington, Ill.
Illinois Wesleyan improved its overall record to 4-2, while WashU dropped to 5-1. The Titans shot 51.2 percent from the field and hit 11 three-pointers in the win.
WashU led 6-3 in the early moments of game, but IWU responded with nine-straight points to take a 12-6 lead with 13:18 to play.
Sophomore guard Jake Knupp canned a three-pointer to end the drought, but that would be the last bucket for the Bears for the next 4:48. A dunk by Mike Marietti gave the Titans their largest lead of the first half at 21-9.
The Bears ended the half on a 12-0 run as the two teams went to the locker room tied at 21-21. Illinois Wesleyan did not score in the final 8:03 of the half. WashU shot 34.8 percent (8-for-23) from the field and had 13 turnovers.
The teams traded baskets to open the second half, but WashU went without a bucket for over five minutes as IWU took a 36-30 lead. Knupp scored back-to-back buckets and freshman center Marcus Meyer added lay-up to get within three (39-36) and forced an Illinois Wesleyan timeout.
Bryan Dolan and Brady Rose canned back-to-back triples to get the lead back to nine (45-36) and forced WashU into a timeout. Joel Pennington followed with back-to-back threes and Rose added a triple to put the game out of reach at 54-39 with less than five minutes to play.
Sophomore guard Kevin Kucera led the Bears with 13 points, while senior guard Luke Silverman-Lloyd added 11 second-half points. WashU struggled behind the arc hitting just 6-of-23 shots.
Rose (15 points), Pennington (14) and Dolan (11) scored in double figures for Illinois Wesleyan, who committed 26 turnovers in the win. The Titans shot 68.2 percent (15-of-22) from the field in the second half.
WashU plays two games next week at home against Webster University (2-3) on Wednesday, Dec. 9, and No. 1 Augustana College (3-0) on Saturday, Dec. 12. Both games will tip-off at 8 p.m., and will be broadcast live on the Bear Sports Network.
BEAR NOTEBOOK: Illinois Wesleyan leads the all-time series with WashU 21-16 … The Titans entered the game ranked 10th in Division III in scoring offense (98.2 ppg).
