LINCOLN, Neb. – It may have been cold outside, but it was red hot inside Snyder Arena as Nebraska Wesleyan shot their way to first place in the Iowa Conference men's basketball standings with an impressive 108-92 victory over Loras College in a matchup between the top two teams in the league.
 
Nebraska Wesleyan shot an astounding 69.0 percent from the field, including 13-23 from 3-point range.  Loras was impressive in their own right, especially from the outside where they made 14-36 3-point attempts. 
 
The Prairie Wolves got out to a 9-0 lead and would never trail in the game.  NWU built up a 57-39 advantage at halftime, missing only ten shot attempts in the first half for 68.8 percent.
 
Nate Schimonitz was the story of the first half, scoring 23 points on 10-12 shooting.  Schimonitz made his first nine shots of the game and did not miss until just over eight minutes remaining in the half.
 
In the second half, Loras hung around and made a big run halfway through behind the shooting of Josh Ruggles.  Ruggles scored 12 straight points on consecutive possessions, hitting an old-fashioned 3-point play followed by three 3-pointers in a row.  His final 3-pointer during the stretch cut the lead to 77-74 with 10:22 remaining.
 
That was as close as the Duhawks would get with the Prairie Wolves going on a 10-3 run over a stretch of four minutes to get back up by double digits.  Loras cut it back to 87-81 at the 5:51 mark, but the Prairie Wolves scored eight of the next ten points using back-to-back 3-pointers from Jack Hiller to get ahead by 12 and they maintained the double digit advantage.
 
Nebraska Wesleyan missed only eight shots in the second half for 69.2 percent.  The end of game shooting of 69.0 percent is a season-high for the Prairie Wolves and the 8^th best single game performance in NCAA III this year.
 
Schimonitz equaled his career-high scoring 36 points in the contest.  Schimonitz was 14-18 from the field, 4-5 on 3-point attempts and 4-4 at the line.  He also dished out five assists and pulled down four rebounds.
 
Jack Hiller was overshadowed by Schimonitz' performance but Hiller was on fire from the outside.  He set a new career-high with 28 points, making 6-9 from 3-point range with four steals. 
 
Deion Wells-Ross had his 11^th double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds and Ryan Garver continued his high scoring games with 17 points and four assists.
 
Loras was led by Josh Ruggles with a game-high 42 points, making 9-13 from 3-point range.  He scored 26 in the second half along making 5-7 on 3-pointers.  Cole Navigato came off the bench to score 16 points. 
 
Nebraska Wesleyan has only two games remaining on the season traveling to Wartburg College on Saturday then hosting Central College in one week for Senior Day.
 
The Prairie Wolves are now 20-3 overall and 11-3 in IIAC with a game and a half lead over Loras in the league standings.