The Charger men's basketball team took down #16 Kansas Wesleyan on Saturday evening 96-89. The duo of Matthew Stilwill and Blake Sindelar combined for 56 points on the evening. "Tonight was a great way to finish out our trip," said Head Coach Mark Svagera. "I thought our guys showed a lot of resilience and were able to counter almost every run that Kansas Wesleyan had. That was a very good team we beat, and we will continue to move forward and get better."
 
In a closely contested first half, the Chargers went on a 13-4 run to take a 21-13 lead following a Jayden Huygens layup. The Coyotes cut the lead to six following a three from Jun Murdock and a basket from Alex Littlejohn. With 2:58 remaining in the contest, Stilwill knocked down a three off an assist from Quinn Vesey to give Briar Cliff a 31-22 lead. The Coyotes fought back, with Cory Kaplan drilling a three-pointer, and the Chargers took a 39-34 lead heading into halftime.
 
Coming out of intermission, Sindelar drove into the paint and scored, followed by a Tyrus Eischeid three to give Briar Cliff a 44-34 lead with 18:35 left in the contest. Back-to-back threes from Jamison Helmers and Sindelar pushed the Charger lead to 16 with 13:24 left to play.
 
With 37 seconds left, the Coyotes were within five of the Cliff following a pair of Murdock free throws. The Chargers led 94-89 following a three by Grant Dye with nine seconds remaining. Vesey iced the game after being intentionally fouled and knocking down a pair of free throws to give the Chargers a 96-89 victory.
 
Stilwill led the charge with 31 points, nine rebounds, and four steals in the contest. He shot 10-for-17 from the field and 60% from beyond the arc. Sindelar scored 25 points on 70% shooting and went 10-for-14 from the charity stripe. Eischeid and Wil Lugar chipped in 12 and 10 points in the game.
 
"We had a lot of great contributions tonight," said Svagera. "Stilwill and Sindelar had it going offensively, and I thought Eischeid gave us a huge spark to start the second half."
 
The Chargers start the season 4-0 for the first time since the 2019-20 season. Briar Cliff will return to the Newman Flanagan Center for their matchup against Valley City State on Friday, November 10^th. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m.