WAVERLY, Iowa – Nebraska Wesleyan clinched at least a share of the Iowa Conference regular season championship as the Prairie Wolves went on the road to defeat Wartburg College 90-81 on Saturday afternoon.
 
With their victory, NWU moved to 21-3 overall and 12-3 in IIAC action with only one regular season game remaining.    The win also assures the Prairie Wolves of having a first round bye in the IIAC postseason tournament.  Wartburg lost for only the second time at home this season and dropped to 14-9 overall and 7-7 in conference play.
 
The Prairie Wolves used a strong first half to build up an early double digit advantage.  The game was tied at 14-14 with just under 13 minutes to play.  From there, NWU went on a 12-0 run during a three minute stretch.  The streak was taken to 26-3 as the Prairie Wolves got up by 23 points at 40-17 at the 4:35 mark.
 
NWU took a 48-31 lead into the halftime locker room.  The Prairie Wolves were 9-18 from 3-point range in the first half, while Wartburg shot just 34.6 percent from the field.
 
In the second half, Wartburg picked up their play on the offensive end of the floor shooting 59.4 percent from the field.  The Knights outscored the Prairie Wolves 50-42, but the lead was too much to overcome.  The closest Wartburg got was nine points at four different points during the game, including the final score.
 
Nebraska Wesleyan used just seven players in the game , with five in double figures and six players with at least eight points.

Nate Schimonitz continued his hot streak scoring a game-high 26 points on 8-15 shooting.  He just missed a double-double with nine rebounds to go along with six assists and four steals. 
 
Dylan Dirks came off the bench to score 18 points making 3-7 from 3-point range.  Jack Hiller also made three 3-pointers finishing with 15 points.  Ryan Garver scored 11 points and led NWU with eight assists.  Cooper Cook scored 10 points.
 
Wartburg was led by Cam Kickbush with 22 points.
 
The Prairie Wolves will close out the regular season on Wednesday hosting Central College on Senior Day at Snyder Arena.