PARK CITY, Kan. – A tough shooting night from long range proved too much to overcome, as 8th-seeded IU South Bend fell behind early and were unable to complete the comeback in an 85-76 loss to 9th-seeded Kansas Wesleyan in the Opening Round of the NAIA Men's Basketball National Championship on Friday night.

Donyell Meredith led the way for the Titans (25-7), scoring a game-high 26 points on 10-of-16 shooting along with seven rebounds. Dylan Allen finished with 17 points with a 9-for-10 performance from the free throw line, and Miles Tracy tallied 12 points with eight rebounds on the night.

Kansas Wesleyan (23-10) took an early lead, jumping out to a 9-2 lead just two and a half minutes into play. Buckets from Meredith and Micah Poole fueled a run of six straight points in response, but the Coyotes quickly pulled away again, scoring 13 of the next 14 points to build a 22-9 advantage by the 8:42 mark of the first half.

The Titans would head to the locker room at the half trailing 36-23 after a pair of free throws from Meredith.

Coming out to start the second half, Kansas Wesleyan took control, hitting four three-pointers within three and a half minutes, going on to take their largest lead of the night at the 12:53 mark, 55-34.

IU South Bend rallied midway through the second half, scoring 12 straight behind five points from Allen and four from Kenny Washington, cutting the deficit to nine at 61-52 with 8:30 remaining. Spencer Pettit's bucket at the 6:44 mark closed the gap to seven, but Kansas Wesleyan would respond with the next five points to end the push and go back up by double-digits down the stretch.

The Titans close the season with a 25-7 overall record, matching 2019-20 as the highest single-season win total in program history.