Trailing by just four points with under one minute to play, Nebraska Wesleyan missed two 3-point attempts one field goal and went 1-3 from the free throw line as No. 18 Briar Cliff defeated the Prairie Wolves 67-61 in GPAC men's basketball action on Wednesday night (Jan. 18) in Sioux City, Iowa.

It was a game of runs between the Prairie Wolves and the Chargers early on. NWU held BCU without a point for nearly the first five minutes of the game as the Chargers first basket was at the 15:41 mark.

The Prairie Wolves would build up a ten point lead at 22-12 with 5:24 to play before halftime. However, the Prairie Wolves wouldn't score the rest of the half as they led just 22-21 at halftime.

GPAC leading scored Jake Shipley opened the second half with 16 points in the first six minutes of the second half as Briar Cliff went on a big run to take an 11-point lead at 43-32 with 12:32 remaining.

From there, it would be NWU that would go on a run. The Prairie Wolves scored 12 unanswered points to take a 44-43 lead with 9:19 to play. The game would go back and forth the rest of the way.

With just under two minutes to play the Chargers Taylor Murren nailed a 3-pointer to put BCU up by six points.

Nick Dinan hit a pair of free throws to pull NWU within four points. After a stop on the other end of the floor the Prairie Wolves had a chance to cut into the lead but missed a 3-pointer and a shot inside the paint. BCU then missed two free throws to give NWU another shot but they missed another 3-pointer.

Nebraska Wesleyan was just 12-21 from the free throw line, while Briar Cliff went 18-24 which was the six point difference in the game. After being outrebounded the first time, NWU controlled the boards 41-33 this meeting but 16 turnovers hurt the Prairie Wolves.

Andy Schweitzer led NWU with 15 points while Trevor Johnson scored 14 and Nick Dinan had 12.

Shipley finished with 29 points for the Chargers with Murren scoring 17.