NAPERVILLE, Ill.— Illinois Wesleyan held just one lead in Friday's CCIW Tournament semifinal versus Augustana, but the Titans picked an opportune time to do so. They went ahead 67-66 on two Peter Lambesis free throws with 1:36 to play and went on to a 74-70 win at Gregory Arena. The Vikings fell to 18-8 on the year, while IWU, 19-8, advances to face the winner of Friday's Elmhurst-North Central semifinal for the tournament title on Saturday, February 29.
 
With the exception of three ties, Augustana led until Lambesis' free throws. A Pierson Wofford (Springfield Lutheran HS, Springfield, Ill.) layup with 14 minutes to play gave the Vikings their biggest advantage of the night at 47-39. However, Wesleyan answered with six straight points, including four by Matthew Leritz to pull within two. Augustana maintained the lead, with the margin bouncing between six points and one point, until a Lambesis layup tied things at 63-all with three minutes left.
 
On the next possession, Austin Elledge (Highland HS, Highland, Ill.) hit three free throws after being fouled on a trey attempt, but the Vikings would go scoreless for more than two minutes as IWU forged its first lead. After a Leritz three-pointer put the Titans up by 70-66, Elledge broke the Augustana drought with one of his own to make it 70-69 with 35 seconds to play.
 
Cory Noe hit two free throws with 12 seconds left to put IWU ahead 72-69 and the Titans fouled Micah Martin (Iowa City HS, Iowa City, Iowa) with three seconds left. Martin made his first free throw and after a timeout, was looking to miss the second when the Vikings were called for a lane violation. That forced them to foul Noe, who hit two more charity tosses to account for the final.
 
After Elledge and Keodre Schumacher traded threes to start the night, layups by Martin and Wofford gave Augustana a 7-3 lead that it would maintain until the 1:45 mark of the first half. After two Noe free throws knotted the score (31-31) for just the second time, an Elledge triple gave the Vikings a 34-31 edge at intermission.
 
Martin and Elledge led Augustana with 19 points each. Wofford added 15—along with a team-high eight rebounds—and Lucas Simon (Notre Dame HS, Chicago, Ill.) 11. Lambesis scored 28 and Noe 17 for Wesleyan.
 
Both teams shot 26 of 57 (.456) from the floor, but the Titans converted 16 of 17 (.941) free throws to just 11 of 18 (.611) for the Vikings. Augustana hit seven of 26 (.269) three-pointers, but just four of its last 21. IWU was six of 17 (.353) from beyond the arc. The Vikings held a 35-30 edge on the boards and committed nine turnovers to six for the Titans.