NWU Men Record 10th Win on the road at Wartburg

WAVERLY, Iowa – Sixth ranked Nebraska Wesleyan shot 66.7 percent in the first half and led the entire game as the Prairie Wolves notched their 10th win of the season 85-69 at Wartburg College Saturday afternoon (Dec. 14) in American Rivers Conference men’s basketball action.

The Prairie Wolves (10-1, 3-0 A-R-C) had all five players score in double figures and won their third straight conference game by double digits. Wartburg drops their seventh straight game to fall to 3-7 and 0-3 in league play.

In the first half, the Prairie Wolves missed only nine total field goal attempts making 18-27 from the floor to hold a 48-32 at the break. Wartburg was able to stay close in the first half by making five 3-pointers and shooting 48 percent from the floor. The two teams both scored 37 points in the second half as the Knights were unable to cut down the Prairie Wolves lead.

Senior Nate Schimonitz, the leading scorer in the American Rivers Conference, scored over 20 points for the ninth time this season finishing the game with 29 points. Schimonitz was 11-16 from the floor and had five rebounds.

NWU had to play the final eight minutes of the game without two of their starters who were lost to foul trouble. Wartburg cut the lead down to 12 points, but Schimonitz took over scoring the next six points to get the lead back to 18 points as the Prairie Wolves cruised the rest of the way.

Before fouling out, senior center Clay Reimers was perfect from the floor. Reimers ended the game 5-5 from the field, and 3-3 on 3-point attempts to score 16 points with six rebounds and six assists. Dylan Dirks also fouled out for NWU scoring 11 points.

Nate Bahe led the team with eight rebounds to go along with his 10 points and Jack Hiller also scored 10 to give all five starters double figures in scoring.

As a team, the Prairie Wolves ended the game shooting 56.6 from the floor making 9-23 on 3-point attempts.

Wartburg had four players score in double figures, led by Broden Coulter off the bench with 13 points.

The Nebraska Wesleyan men will have a week off before returning to action next Saturday on the road at Wisconsin-River Falls, a game that will be broadcast on KFOR & kfornow.com, beginning st 2:45pm. The Nebraska Wesleyan women’s team lost 108-68 to Wartburg Saturday. Wartburg is #6 in the NCAA Division III women’s basketball ratings.