LINCOLN, Neb. – The storybook season of basketball came to close for the Nebraska Wesleyan men's basketball team on Saturday night (March 2) as 13^th-ranked University of St. Thomas came into Snyder Arena and defeated the Prairie Wolves 70-58 in the 2^nd round of the 2019 NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament.
 
On a night full of anticipation and excitement, the end result was not what the home crowd expected as the high powered Prairie Wolves had their 23-game home winning streak end and had the lowest scoring output of the Dale Wellman era.
 
St. Thomas, the 2016 and 2011 NCAA Division III National Champions, advance to the Sweet 16 next weekend.
 
Nebraska Wesleyan has their magical season end with a 27-2 overall record, the second most wins in program history.
 
A game that had some of the longest scoring droughts of the season, started out as a scoring explosion.  St. Thomas made seven 3-pointers in the first five minutes of the game and NWU hit four of their own as the score was 23-18 at the 14:08 mark of the first half.  The Tommies came out especially fast leading 20-10 just over four minutes into the game.
 
NWU then went on a 8-0 run during a three minute stretch to tie the game at 23-23 at the 11:29 mark of the 1^st half.  St. Thomas went back up by seven points at 37-30 after a 3-pointer from Ryan Lindberg with 6:59 left in the half.
 
From there, St. Thomas would not score a point the rest of the half.  Nebraska Wesleyan would take advantage and make a run towards the end of the half.  Clay Reimers buried a 3-pointer in the corner to put the Prairie Wolves ahead 38-37 with 39 seconds left and that sent the home crowd into a frenzy as the teams headed to the locker room.
 
The Prairie Wolves came out in the second half getting two baskets by Ryan Garver and a layup from Clay Reimers making the score 44-37 at the 16:41 mark.
 
St. Thomas finally ended their scoring drought that went 10:18 with a basket by Connor Bair at the 15:55 point of the second half.  Then Nebraska Wesleyan went on a major scoring drought of their own.  NWU would not score another point until 8:55 left in the game as Nate Schimonitz hit a pair of free throws.
 
The Tommies took advantage of that lack of scoring to get ahead by six points at 52-46 with 7:51 remaining.  Schimonitz made a layup with just under seven minutes remaining giving NWU their first field goal in nearly ten minutes of action.  The score was 52-48 with 6:59 left, but the Prairie Wolves went cold.
 
St. Thomas put together a 10-0 run to build up a 14 point lead with 3:46 left in the game.  Nebraska Wesleyan made one last push cutting the lead to nine points at 65-59 with 2:06 left.  A missed Tommie shot gave NWU a run out but Schimonitz was called for charging  and that turned the tide.
 
Nebraska Wesleyan shot 33.9 percent for the game, making only 7-28 in the second half.  The Prairie Wolves were 0-13 from 3-point range in the second half.
 
Nate Schimonitz was the top scorer for the Prairie Wolves at 15 points, making 4-16 field goals and 6-9 at the free throw line.  Cooper Cook scored 14 points, with Ryan Garver and Clay Reimers each adding 10 points.
 
Five seniors played their final game in a Prairie Wolves uniform, and it was fitting that they each came off the court individually to a standing ovation.
 
Ryan Garver and Cooper Cook both have them names all over the NWU basketball record books and will gone down as legends of Nebraska Wesleyan basketball.