MARION, Ind.— The Montreat men's basketball team, who was seeded 15^th in the Cramer Quadrant of the NAIA Men's Basketball Opening Round presented by Ballogy, put forth an applaudable effort on Friday night in Marion, Ind., coming up just a little bit short down the stretch in an 80-65 defeat against the No. 2-seeded Indiana Wesleyan University Wildcats. The defeat concluded the Cavaliers' season with a 21-10 record.
 
JaJa Davis dominated the opening minutes of the contest on Friday night, scoring Montreat's first eight points. Davis' two triples and two-point bucket put the visitors on top of the Wildcats, 8-4, after just 2:20 of game action.
 
Indiana Wesleyan had an answer waiting as the hosts built momentum and leaped in front of Montreat by utilizing a 10-0 run. The Wildcats continued to build on their edge, outscoring the Cavaliers by 15 points over 6:24 to grow their lead up to 24-13 at the 11:16 mark.
 
The Cavaliers weren't fazed by IWU's strong surge, however, as a four-point play by Davis helped spark an 11-2 run in just 98 seconds to tie the contest at 28.
 
Mike Flenory and Noah Dunn buried deep 3-pointers, while Djongo-Alan Tchatchouang and Eli Idlett added two-point baskets in a back-and-forth final eight minutes that featured three ties and two lead changes. As the first half came to a close, the Cavaliers trailed Indiana Wesleyan by just a single basket, 42-40.
 
Montreat trailed by only two points at the half thanks in large part to 3-point shooting and forcing turnovers. The Cavaliers drilled seven triples (7-12 3-PT FG) in 20 minutes while forcing seven IWU turnovers. On the other side, the Wildcats forced just three Montreat miscues. Both teams did shoot effectively, with Indiana Wesleyan making 17 of its 32 looks from the field (53.1 percent) and Montreat hitting on 46.9 percent of its shots (15-32 FG). Each side went a perfect 3-for-3 at the charity stripe.
 
Davis led all scorers in the initial frame with 16 points, while a quartet of Cavs (Idlett, Flenory, Dunn and Jamiel Wright) added five points. Dunn paced Montreat with five rebounds, while Flenory tallied three assists.
 
Dunn, Davis and Flenory went shot-for-shot with Indiana Wesleyan in the opening minutes of the second half. Montreat then took its initial lead of the second half on Tchatchouang's first triple with 14:14 on the clock, putting the Cavs up 53-50. Tchatchouang nailed a free throw-line jumper moments later, and a Davis free throw re-established Montreat's three-point edge at 56-53.
 
Indiana Wesleyan (27-6), who entered the tournament as the No. 7-ranked team in the NAIA Coaches' Poll, found its groove by getting in the paint and pushing the tempo. The Wildcats retook the lead with 9:57 remaining in regulation (57-56), and they never looked back.
 
IWU utilized an 11-0 run to jump in front by three possessions, 64-56, with 8:23 left. While a Tyler Rodrigue corner 3-pointer and a technical free throw whittled the Montreat deficit down to 64-60, that was as close as the Cavaliers would get the rest of the way. The Wildcats stayed aggressive and played sound defense, holding Montreat to three points over a four-minute stretch to gradually build their advantage up to 76-63.
 
Davis, who led the Cavaliers with 21 points on the night, scored Montreat's final two points on a jumper at the 2:29 mark. Ultimately, the second-seeded Wildcats topped the 15^th-seeded Cavaliers, 80-65, ending the Montreat men's basketball season.
 
"That was a tough loss," said head coach Garrett Jones. "We simply weren't as sharp as we needed to be under six minutes to beat a great program like Indiana Wesleyan. Give them credit for getting the big stops and executing at critical points in the second half."
 
Dunn joined Davis by reaching double figures in scoring with 14 points while also hauling in a team-high eight boards. Flenory filled up the stat sheet in several categories, scoring eight points, dishing out six assists and grabbing three steals. Dunn also registered three steals in the effort.
 
The Cavaliers hit nine of their 28 shot attempts in the second half, sliding their shooting percentage to 40.0 (24-60 FG) overall. Montreat also went 12-for-29 on 3-point looks (41.4 percent) and 5-for-6 (83.3 percent) at the free throw stripe. On the other side, the Wildcats held a 44-20 edge in points in the paint and a 14-2 advantage on fast break points. IWU shot 57.1 percent overall (32-56 FG) while connecting on seven of its 19 3-pointers (36.8 percent) and nine of its 10 free throws.
 
"I'm extremely proud of this group," Jones added. "They had to overcome a lot of adversity this year, and they stayed the course and accomplished some great things. We will learn from this and continue to get better as a program."
 
With the defeat, the Montreat men's basketball season came to a close. The Montreat men's basketball team reached the NAIA Men's Basketball Tournament for the third time in four seasons, and it looks forward to next fall when it tries to extend that streak.