Jared Callanan scored a game-high 36 points Monday night to lead Iowa Wesleyan College to an 82-80 Midwest Collegiate Conference Tournament play-in game victory over Clarke College at the Robert and Ruth Kehl Center. The Tigers, who will play at No. 1 seeded Grand View College in a Wednesday quarterfinal, overcame a 16-point first-half deficit.

Clarke (6-25) jumped out of the gates quickly and led 29-13 with 11:36 left in the opening half. The Crusaders led 40-33 at the break.

Clarke senior Cory Billingsley tallied 17 of this team-high 28 points in the opening half, as did Iowa Wesleyan's Callahan.

Coach  Jerry Drymon's Crusaders led by 13 with 9:11 to play, but Iowa Wesleyan (9-19) battled back and took its first lead of the contest with 3:54 remaining on a Jamal Blackmond three-point play. There were four lead changes down the stretch, and two free throws by Blackmond closed out the scoring with 25 second left in the game. Three Clarke field goal attempts in the closing seconds were off the mark.

Clarke's Elliott Carr hit 7 of 8 shots from the field and finished with 23 points, and Travis Ferrell dished out a game-high 10 assists.

Iowa Wesleyan's Reggie Shipp and Blackmond scored 13 and 11 points, respectively.

-CRUSADERS-