McMinnville, Ore. – No. 1 Nebraska Wesleyan rallied back from a nine-point halftime deficit and completed the comeback with a hot shooting second half performance as the Prairie Wolves defeated Linfield 90-79 in men's basketball action on Monday night (Dec. 17). 
 
With the victory, the Prairie Wolves set a new school record with a 24^th consecutive victory dating back to last season's national championship run.  The previous record was 23 victories set in 1997-98 when NWU started the year 23-0.
 
Trailing 45-36 at halftime, the Prairie Wolves came out on a mission in the second half.  After making only 3-14 from 3-point range in the opening 20 minutes, Nebraska Wesleyan was red hot from the floor in the second half.
 
NWU made their first seven 3-pointers of the half and shot an amazing 69.2 percent from the field.  They were 18-26 from the floor, missing only four shots inside the 3-point line.
 
In the first half the two teams were playing at a high pace converting on both ends of the court.  Nebraska Wesleyan then went on a scoring drought as they ended the half making only two field goals in the final 9:24 of the half.  NWU led 30-29, but Linfied went on a 16-6 run to end the first half and take momentum into the locker room.
 
The Prairie Wolves chipped away at the Linfield lead and finally took over at the 10:54 mark on a layup from Ryan Garver making the score 58-57.  Linfield would get back ahead 62-60 on a putback with 9:16 left.
 
Nate Schimonitz hit a 3-pointer to give the Prairie Wolves back the lead and they would not give it up the rest of the way.  An 11-0 run would put NWU up by nine points and that was too much to overcome for Linfield.
 
Ryan Garver and Nate Bahe both scored 23 points in the game to share team scoring honors.  Garver was 10-13 from the floor and also had five assists and five rebounds.  Bahe, who scored 25 on Sunday, came back with 23 points on Monday to improve his season scoring average to double figures.  Bahe was 4-7 from 3-point land, 7-8 at the free throw line and pulled down six rebounds.
 
Schimonitz and Cooper Cook both scored 14 points.  Schimonitz led the team with seven assists, but sat the final eight minutes with an apparent injury.  Cook was 6-14 from the floor.  Clay Reimers just missed a double-double with 11 rebounds and eight points.
 
The Prairie Wolves ended the game shooting 54.2 percent from the floor going 11-26 from 3-point range.  They also held a +6 advantage on the glass.
 
Nebraska Wesleyan will now have a two week break before returning to American Rivers Conference play on January 2 with a trip to Buena Vista University.