Eric Jackson scored 13 points to start the second half to help Nebraska Wesleyan build up a double digit lead and they would hold off a furious rally by Midland as the Prairie Wolves picked up their third consecutive win with a 74-73 victory in GPAC men's basketball action on Wednesday night (Feb. 9) at Snyder Arena.
Nebraska Wesleyan remains perfect for the month of February as they are now 8-14 overall and 4-11 in GPAC. Midland falls to 6-22, 2-14 GPAC.
Midland led by three points at halftime, but Jackson came out in the second half and went on a run by himself. After not scoring at all in the first half, Jackson scored 13 points in the first 4:15 of the second half.
That run put NWU up by nine points. The Prairie Wolves would get their lead up to double digits and led by 10 points at 65-55 with 7:53 to play after a pair of free throws by Bryce Arp.
Midland then slowly chipped away at the lead and finally tied the game with 1:50 to play on a layup by Zach Rosenboom.
NWU came down on their next possession and found junior Andy Schweitzer open from 3-point land and Schweitzer connected from long distance to give NWU a 72-69 lead.
After a missed 3-pointer on the other end, the Prairie Wolves got another basket as Jackson found Bryce Arp underneath for a layup to go ahead by five points.
P.J. Mallette scored for Midland to pull within three points, but missed the free throw to make the score 74-71.
NWU was fouled and Schweitzer missed the front end of a 1-1 to give Midland another chance. The Warriors came down and missed the initial layup, but the putback by Zach Rosenboom was good.
With just two seconds left, NWU threw a baseball pass on the inbounds to allow time to expire.
Midland looked to be in control early as they jumped out to a 9-0 lead as NWU didn't score for the first 4:18 of the game.
NWU did get within three points at halftime, but never took the lead until the second half.
Jackson and Arp led NWU with 15 points each. Schweitzer came off the bench to go 4-6 from 3-point range for 12 points, while Jim Lance also added 11 off the bench.
Marcus Messersmith led Midland with 18 points, with P.J. Mallette scoring 16.
The Warriors hit 10-21 from 3-point range, but NWU made 19-24 free throws compared to only nine for Midland.
Nebraska Wesleyan will go for their fourth straight win on Saturday afternoon at the University of Sioux Falls
