SIOUX CITY, Iowa -- Nebraska Wesleyan's inaugural basketball season under coach Dale Wellman came to a close with a 89-69 loss at Briar Cliff in the first round of the GPAC Men's Basketball tournament on Wednesday night (Feb. 25) at the Newman Flanagan Center in Sioux City, Iowa.

The 5th-seeded Prairie Wolves finish the 2014-15 season with a 13-13 record after being picked to finish last in the preseason poll.  The No. 4 seed Chargers, ranked No. 24 in the NAIA II Poll, advance to the GPAC semifinals where they will face top-seeded Morningside.

Briar Cliff came out the gates firing and gave NWU a taste of their own medicine by knocking down seven first half 3-pointers.  The Chargers led 44-34 at the break.

Like they did all season, NWU put together a strong run and battled back out of the locker room.  The Prairie Wolves scored four quick points in the first minute as BCU was forced to call a timeout.

NWU continued to chip away and cut the lead to 48-46 with 15:17 remaining.  From there, Briar Cliff went on a 23-3 run to get ahead 71-49 and they never looked back.

A key stretch followed as NWU came out of a timeout and cut the lead to 71-55.  The Prairie Wolves then forced a quick turnover and Trey Bardsley had a 3-pointer on a fast break that could have cut the lead to 13, but it would not go in.  NWU also got the offensive rebound, but the routine putback fell off and BCU pulled away.

Trey Bardsley led the way for Nebraska Wesleyan with a game-high 22 points.  He went over 600 points for the season becoming just the seventh NWU player to do so.

Nebraska Wesleyan was held 24 points under their season average as they shot just 40.0 percent from the field.  They also made just 7-27 from 3-point range.

Playing in his final game Byron Thompson had 12 points, six steals, five assists and three rebounds.  Travis Giesselmann also scored in double figures with 12.

Briar Cliff shot 53.3 percent from the field and made 12-29 from the 3-point line.  Bryan Forbes led the way with 20 points, while Austin Lefler scored 17 on four 3-pointers.  Clay Harreld had five 3-pointers for 18 points.

The Prairie Wolves say goodbye to three seniors, Byron Thompson, Nolan Clausen and Trey Closter who played their final game of the year.