St. Louis, Mo. – It was a game for the books as the No. 15 Washington University in St. Louis men's basketball team defeated No. 4 Illinois Wesleyan, 71-61. WashU has now won the last two matchups in the rivalry.

The Bears are now 9-1 on the year as they head into an 11-day break before the next competition.

It was a physical game between the Bears and the Titans from the opening tip. After Illinois Wesleyan put the first points on the board, the teams exchanged buckets, tying the score three times in the first five minutes. WashU took its first lead of the day at the 15:35 mark as junior Kevin Davet laid one in.

The game was tied twice more prior to the Bears scoring four-straight to take a 15-11 lead with just over 14 minutes left on the clock. Davet first jammed one in and then graduate student Jack Nolan hit a jumper – both on passes from senior Kameron Mack.  

Senior David Windley drilled a 3-pointer, again on an assist from Mack, at the 12:45 mark to give the Bears an 18-14 edge. WashU went on to take a 22-16 advantage, the biggest lead of the game at that point, following a layup and two free throws from senior Justin Hardy.

A 3-pointer from first-year Hayden Doyle extended the Bears lead to seven points, 25-18, with just over nine minutes left on the clock.

Davet slammed home another dunk, Doyle put in a layup and Hardy netted a pair of free throws to give WashU a 31-23 lead with 6:50 remaining on the clock.

The Bears came out of a timeout to extend their lead to eight points with just over five minutes left in the first half. Nolan drilled a shot from behind the arc to put WashU up 34-26.

Illinois Wesleyan cut it to six with a jumper from Matthew Leritz and a pair of free throws from Cory Noe but the Bears went into halftime with an eight point lead thanks to a layup from Windley with 42 seconds on the clock.                                             

WashU came out of the break to score the first two points on a pair of free throws from Doyle, which was the first double-digit lead of the game for either team.

WashU then went on a 9-0 run, starting with a dunk and a layup from Hardy. First-year Jake Wolf hit a shot from behind the arc and Nolan netted a jumper to give the Bears a 51-34 edge.

The Bears maintained a 15-point lead following a Nolan jumper at the 11:46 mark.

Illinois Wesleyan added a layup from Noe, cutting the lead down to 55-42 and prompting WashU to call a timeout. Out of the huddle, Leritz scored a bucket for the Titans and another layup from Noe brought that lead down to 11 points.

The Titans then scored four-straight, all from Leritz, cutting the Bears' lead to 57-50 with 7:07 on the clock.

WashU, however, answered with eight points in a row, on a layup from Davet and 3-pointers from Nolan and Doyle.

Noe started a 9-0 run for the Titans, which ended in a layup from Luke Yoder, closing WashU's lead to 65-59 with 1:20 left on the clock.

With less than a minute remaining, Nolan hit four-straight free throws to give WashU a 71-61 lead and thwart any further comeback from the Titans.

Nolan led all scorers with 20 points, as well as six rebounds, a steal and a block. Davet scored 16 points while Doyle scored 13 points, grabbed three rebounds, dished out three assists and recorded a block and a steal. Hardy finished with 12 points, five rebounds, three steals and two assists. Mack dished out a team-high four assists.

Three Illinois Wesleyan players reached double-figures, led by 17 points from Peter Lambesis. Noe netted 14 while Leritz had 12 points and nine rebounds.

The Bears return home on Friday, December 31 for a 1 p.m. game against Westminster for one final tune-up before starting UAA play.