MARION, Ind. – The Indiana Tech men's basketball team fell to No. 1-ranked Indiana Wesleyan University, 94-83, in their final game of 2020 Wednesday evening inside Luckey Arena.
 
Josh Kline led the Warriors with 20 points on 7-8 shooting while adding six rebounds. Rog Stein had 19 points, six rebounds and a career-high seven assists while Grant Smith had 16 points, nine rebounds and two assists against his former team. Jeremy Davison added 13 points off the bench while Cory McKinney recorded 11 points, five assists and three rebounds.
 
The Warriors are the just the fourth team to come within 11 points of the 17-0 Wildcats this season, joining Bethel University (95-92 on Nov. 25), Marian University (84-76 on Nov. 21) and Tech (97-88 on Oct. 31) and just the sixth team (Marian, Bethel, Taylor, Park-Gilbert and Tech twice) to hold IWU under the century mark.
 
Tech started off the game with the lead thanks to a bucket from Kline on their opening possession and while the Wildcats answered right back with a basket from Seth Maxwell, who scored a game-high 36 points (16-24 FG), the Warriors were able to stay tied with or on top of the hosts for the next five minutes. Kline put the Orange and Black up for the last time at the 16:07 mark following a pair of free throws while the Wildcats answered back with a 7-2 run to take a 19-16 lead at the 13:05 mark. The Warriors were able to knot the game back up at 20 following a bucket from Stein under a minute later, but IWU used a 12-4 run to take an eight-point lead. Tech came roaring back with an 11-4 spurt to come within a point at the 5:14 mark following a triple from Davison, but the Wildcats ended the half on a 15-5 run to hold a 51-40 advantage at the break.
 
Indiana Wesleyan continued to showcase their offensive firepower in the second half as they shot 19-37 (51.4%) from the floor en route to 43 points. Tech matched the Wildcats on the scoreboard in the second half thanks to a 15-33 performance from the floor, but went just 2-10 from the three-point line. After trailing by as many as 13 in the opening part of the half, the Warriors used a 9-0 run to pull within striking distance at 66-63 and 12:18 to go in the game, but a bucket from Kyle Mangas started a 13-4 run for the Wildcats to give them a 79-67 advantage with 8:23 on the clock. The Warriors continued to battle down the stretch, cutting the deficit to seven points with 3:04, but only managed two more points the rest of the game as IWU won their 27^th straight game dating back to last season.
 
Tech (6-6) returns to action on Tuesday, January 5 as they host Mount Vernon Nazarene University. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. from the Schaefer Center.