Nebraska Wesleyan led by 13 points in the first half and didn't trail until seven minutes left in the second half, but they couldn't hold on as Northwestern College earned a 78-71 victory in GPAC men's basketball action on Saturday afternoon (Jan. 8) at Snyder Arena.

NWU (5-8, 1-5 GPAC) suffered a scoring drought of over five minutes in the second half as Northwestern (14-4, 7-1 GPAC) scored 13 unanswered points to overcome a 59-48 deficit. The Prairie Wolves got a basket from Eric Jackson to go up 11 at the 10:51 mark in the second half. They would not score again until the 5:28 mark when Bryce Arp made a layup to finally end the drought.

During that span, Walker Seim began to heat up for Northwestern as he drained a pair of three pointers from way beyond the arc to spark the Red Raider offense.

Nebraska Wesleyan was in control for most of the game as they built up a 13 point lead in the first half. Northwestern trimmed the lead to six at halftime, 39-33, but NWU got it back up to double digits in the second half. The Prairie Wolves could not stop the huge run by the GPAC leading Red Raiders late in the game as they went on a 20-2 run.

Bryce Arp led all scorers with 20 points as he was 6-11 from the floor and 7-12 at the free throw line. Eric Jackson had another big game and kept NWU in the contest with his 3-point shooting as he was 4-7 from 3-point range to finish with 18 points. Nick Dinan also scored double figures with 10 points to go along with five assists.

Seim led Northwestern with 19 points, while Daniel Van Keelsbeek and Ryan Hoogeveen added 17 apiece.

NWU will host Concordia on Wednesday night.