Mangas Powers IWU Into League Lead
FORT WAYNE – The Indiana Wesleyan men’s basketball team now sits in first place in the Crossroads League standings.
No surprise that Kyle Mangas led the Wildcats to that top spot with another impressive performance Saturday.
Freshman Mangas poured in a game-high 24 points as the No. 6 Wildcats edged past No. 3 Saint Francis 86-82 in a huge league showdown.
IWU improves to 22-6 overall and moves past Saint Francis atop the league standings at 13-3. Saint Francis falls to 22-6 overall and 12-4 in league play.
The Wildcats, who have now beaten the Cougars six straight times, used a red-hot shooting effort Saturday. IWU hit 28-47 shots from the field, including a key 12-20 from 3-point range in the win.
Mangas, a WCHS graduate, hit 5-10 shots in the victory. He was 12-12 from the free throw line and also had four rebounds and two assists. The star guard, who leads the Wildcats in scoring at 21 points-per-game, hit 2-5 treys in the win.
The Wildcats, who trailed 36-35 at halftime, had a season-low six turnovers. They won despite being outscored 50-24 in points in the paint and out rebounded 30-19.
Saint Francis, which lost to IWU 89-82 in overtime on Jan. 13, shot 32-53 overall from the field. The Cougars were 5-10 from distance.
The Wildcats, who posted their sixth straight win, outscored the Cougars 18-13 from the free throw line.
IWU will close out the regular season with a conference game at Mount Vernon Nazarene Tuesday night and then by hosting Spring Arbor Feb. 17 at 1 p.m. The time for the regular-season and league finale versus Spring Arbor has been changed with the men’s game now first at 1 p.m. with the women’s contest to follow.