LINCOLN, Neb. – Oh what a night, the Nebraska Wesleyan men's basketball team rallied back from an 18-point second half deficit to earn an 82-78 victory over Central College to claim the 2018 IIAC Tournament Championship and earn an automatic bid to the 2018 NCAA III National Tournament. 
 
It is the first ever conference tournament championship for the Prairie Wolves and NWU will play in their first NCAA III Tournament since 2001.
 
NWU, the IIAC regular season champions, avoided an upset from Central College for a second straight season and the Prairie Wolves were able to cut down the nets in front of emotionally charged Snyder Arena home crowd.
 
No. 6 seed Central College, playing in their fourth IIAC tournament final over the past five years, had taken control in the second half.  The Dutch led 38-35 at halftime, then slowly built up their lead.
 
A pair of Dutch free throws with 10:49 to play gave Central a 63-45 advantage and the Prairie Wolves dream season looked like it may be coming to an end.
 
Back-to-back 3-pointers from Nate Schimonitz and Cooper Cook cut the lead to 10 points at 65-55 with 8:15 to play.  Central answered and went back ahead by 13 at 70-57 with 7:28 left.
 
Nebraska Wesleyan then went on their run, sparked by full court pressure defense that got the Dutch out of their comfort level.  Central would go on a dry spell and not make another field goal until 16 seconds were left as the Dutch went 7:12 without a field goal. 
 
NWU used a 12-0 run to pull within one point.  During that run were several huge plays, starting with a 3-pointer by Nate Bahe from the corner to get within single digits for the first time since the 15:39 mark of the second half. 
 
Nate Schimonitz would score six of the next seven points and his fastbreak layup cut the deficit to 70-69 with 3:58 left.  Central hit a pair of free throws to end their scoring drought at just under four minutes to go back ahead by three.  Ryan Garver hit a layup on the next possession and was fouled but he couldn't convert the old fashioned 3-point play.
 
Central kept the lead by one as the clock ticked under three minutes, then Deion Wells-Ross hit a jump shot and a steal by Bahe led a run out for the Prairie Wolves as Schimonitz found Jack Hiller in the corner for a 3-pointer giving NWU their first lead since the seven minute mark of the first half as the Prairie Wolves led 76-74 with 2:12 left.
 
Things would tense up in the final two minutes and both teams had two consecutive scoreless possessions.  Central hit one free throw to pull within a point with 1:10 left in the game.  On NWU's next time down the floor, Nate Bahe was isolated in the post and was able to convert the field goal giving NWU a 78-75 lead with 49 seconds left.
 
Nate Schimonitz blocked Central's 3-point attempt, but the Dutch got the rebound and eventually found Nick Drucker for an open layup making it 78-77 with 16 seconds left.  An immediate foul sent Schimonitz to the line where he calmly sank 2-2. 
 
NWU fouled before the Dutch could get a 3-pointer off and Smith hit just 1-2 free throws making it a two point advantage.  Ryan Garver then went to the line and nailed both free throws to seal the victory.
 
The Prairie Wolves outscored Central 47-40 in the second half.  In the first half, NWU was held to just 35 points as they didn't make a field goal until nearly seven minutes had gone by in the game, missing their first eight shot attempts.
 
Nate Schimonitz took on the scoring load for the Prairie Wolves and finished with a game-high 31 points.  He was 10-19 from the floor and 8-8 at the free throw line to go along with five assists and seven rebounds.
 
Ryan Garver finished with 14 points and Nate Bahe came off the bench to score 13.  Cooper Cook was only 3-9 from the field but finished with 12 points.  Deion Wells-Ross led the team with 10 rebounds.
 
Central was paced by Malik Wildermuth with 23 points on 10-14 shooting.
 
Nebraska Wesleyan will now await to find out where they will land in the NCAA III Tournament when the field is announced on Monday morning (Feb. 26) in a selection show at 11:30 am.