LINCOLN, Neb. – It took an extra five minutes, but the Nebraska Wesleyan men's basketball team earned their third straight home victory on Wednesday night with a 88-77 overtime win over Coe College at Snyder Arena.  The Prairie Wolves have now won six of their past seven games.
 
NWU scored the first six points of the overtime period and used a 15-4 run over a 3:30 stretch to start the extra frame to build up a double digit lead and earn the season split with the Kohawks.  The win gives the Prairie Wolves a 16-6 overall record and 10-4 mark in the Iowa Conference to remain alone in 2^nd place in the IIAC standings, a half game behind first place Buena Vista.  Coe drops their seventh straight game of the year.
 
The Prairie Wolves tied the game at 70-70 with 29 seconds left in regulation on a layup by Nate Schimonitz in the paint.  Coe then held for the final shot to try and earn the victory.  As time got below five seconds, Trevor Haaland drove the lane and fired up a jump shot that bounced off the rim and rebound went loose as time expired.
 
To start the overtime period, NWU scored four quick points on free throws taking advantage of a Jack Hiller steal and Deion Wells-Ross block shot.  Wells-Ross then added another layup to make it a six point game 76-73.  Coe came down and made a 3-pointer from Calvin Walker to cut the lead in half.  They would not make a field goal again until 1:11 remaining as NWU went on a 10-1 run during that stretch.
 
Nebraska Wesleyan built up a 42-38 lead at halftime shooting an amazing 58.6 percent from the field.  They were only 2-8 from 3-point land which didn't allow them to pull away.
 
In the second half, the NWU offense got stagnant for a long stretch.  Cooper Cook made  layup on a back door cut from Blake Ruiz giving NWU a 50-44 lead with 16:22 to play.  The Prairie Wolves did not score again for nearly six minutes, going 5:47 without a point.   The Kohawks only built up a three point lead during that scoring drought.
 
Coe gained their first lead of the second half with 13:50 to play and held on to it for over ten minutes.  A pair of free throws by Schimonintz with 2:57 remaining gave NWU a 66-64 lead.  He would go on to score the final eight points of regulation for the Prairie Wolves making two baskets in the paint and four free throws.
 
Schimonitz led Nebraska Wesleyan with 25 points scoring 17 in the second half and regulation.  He was 9-20 from the field, 7-8 at the free throw line adding eight rebounds, three assists and three steals playing 43 of 45 minutes.
 
Cooper Cook recorded a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds, including three 3-pointers.  Deion Wells-Ross came off the bench to score 12 points and Jack Hiller added 11.  Ryan Garver had a very solid stat line with nine points, six rebounds, four steals and two assists. 
 
Nebraska Wesleyan made just 3-17 from 3-point range in the game, going 0-8 in the second half.  They finally ended the streak of misses with a big 3-pointer by Cook in the overtime period.
 
Coe had five players score in double figures with Matt Vonderhaar and Matt Meyer each scoring 13 points.
 
The Prairie Wolves have to remaining IIAC games in the regular season, both in Dubuque, Iowa.  They travel to face University of Dubuque this Saturday, then take on Loras College the following Saturday.