Nebraska Wesleyan shot just 50 percent from the free throw line, including four key misses in the final 0:15 with the Prairie Wolves trailing by just three points as NAIA II No. 8 Northwestern held on for the 77-72 victory over NWU on Saturday (Dec. 3) in GPAC men's basketball action at Snyder Arena.

NWU now falls to 4-3 overall and 0-3 in the GPAC, while Northwestern improves to 9-1, 4-1 GPAC.

Nebraska Wesleyan had their chances in the end as they pulled within three points at 75-72 with 49 seconds to play. After a missed shot and two missed free throws NWU had their chance when Daniel Van Kalsbeek fouled Bryce Arp sending him to the line for two shots. Arp missed both attempts, but the rebound went out of bounds and stayed with NWU. On the inbounds pass Trevor Johnson was fouled on the shot attempt but he also missed both free throw attempts and Northwestern got a fast break layup on the rebound to seal the win.

The Prairie Wolves finished just 12-24 at the charity stripe, but the Red Raiders weren't much better at 16-31.

Northwestern really held the advantage on the glass as the Red Raiders had a +20 margin on rebounds with 45 compared to just 25 for NWU.

Eric Jackson led the Prairie Wolves with 20 points for the second straight game, scoring 16 points in the first half. Trevor Johnson also scored double figures with 10 points.

Four players reached double digits for Northwestern with Ben Miller leading the way with 22 points on 7-9 shooting. Daniel Van Kalsbeek had a double-double of 17 points, 12 rebounds.