LINCOLN, Neb. -- Freshman Ryan Garver went 4-4 at the free throw line in the final 21 seconds as Nebraska Wesleyan picked up a crucial 90-84 victory over Northwestern College in a key GPAC men's basketball game on Saturday afternoon (Jan. 30) in front of a partisan crowd at Snyder Arena.

With the victory, the Prairie Wolves complete the season sweep over the Red Raiders, a feat they have never accomplished since the teams joined the GPAC.

NWU remains in third place in the GPAC standings with a 14-6 overall record, 9-5 mark in conference play.  Northwestern falls to 12-11 and 6-8 in GPAC.

The Red Raiders erased a halftime deficit and got up by as many as seven points in the second half.  They led 62-55 with just over 12 minutes remaining in the half.  From there, NWU went on a 10-2 run capped by a 3-pointer from Keithan Karn to give NWU a 66-64 lead.  A technical foul gave Northwestern one point on a free throw, but also sparked the Prairie Wolves the rest of the way.

Following the technical, NWU went on a 11-3 run with three 3-pointers and got ahead by nine points with 7:33 left.  Northwestern did not fold and continued to chip away at the lead.  Nathan Wedel got a steal and layup to trim the deficit to 83-82 with 2:53 remaining.

Trey Bardsley came right down the court and drained a 3-pointer to give NWU the 86-82 advantage.  Taylor Francis cut the lead in half with a basket but Northwestern was held scoreless the final 1:56.

Needing a defensive stop with a 2-point lead, TJ Buyert missed a 3-pointer and Garver grabbed the long rebound.  He was fouled going down the court with 21 seconds left.  He calmly nailed both free throws to give NWU a two possession advantage.  The Red Raiders missed another 3-pointer with NWU securing the rebound.  Garver was put on the line again with under 7 seconds left but he sealed the victory with two more clutch free throws.

Nebraska Wesleyan finished the game shooting 56.4 percent as a team, making 63.0 percent in the first half.  They got back on track from beyond the arc making 13-29 from long range.

Travis Giesselmann scored a game-high 19 points to lead NWU, with 16 of the points coming in the second half.  He had 11 points in a stretch of three minutes in the second half when NWU made their run. 

Three other NWU players reached double figures in scoring.  Keithan Karn scored 15 points, with three 3-pointers.  Trevor Leiting came off the bench to score a career-high 13 points.  Leiting was a perfect 4-4 from the field, 3-3 from 3-point range and 2-2 at the free throw line.  Trey Bardsley scored 13 points with three 3-pointers.

Nathan Wedel had a huge game to lead Northwestern as he had a career-high 29 points.  Jordan Baker surpassed the 1,000 point mark with 11 points and Taylor Francis added 11.