Former Bowling Green High School standout Luke Idlett helped Transylvania get one step closer to securing the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament championship on Tuesday.

Idlett, a freshman shooting guard for the Pioneers, scored a a team-high 20 points to lead top seed Transylvania to an 88-79 win against No 8 seed Berea at the Clive M. Beck Center in Lexington.

Idlett also tallied a team-high four steals and pulled down four rebounds in the win.

Sophomore guard J.C. Walbert, a Glasgow graduate, came off the bench to score nine points for the Pioneers in the win.

Idlett is averaging 8.8 points, leads the team with 48 made 3-pointers and is tied for second on the squad with 27 steals in 26 games (12 starts) this season.

Walbert is averaging 2.8 points and 1.3 rebounds in 26 games (four starts).

Transylvania (18-8) will host No. 5 seed Franklin (Indiana) in an HCAC tournament semifinal on Friday at 4 p.m. CT in Lexington. The championship for the NCAA Division 3-level HCACi is set for Saturday at Transylvania.

WARDLOW HELPS WITTENBERG REACH NCAC SEMIS

Wittenberg (Ohio) freshman guard Jace Wardlow played a pivotal role in the Tigers’ 77-53 win against visiting Wabash in the North Coast Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament quarterfinals on Wednesday night.

Wardlow scored 13 points, one of four players to reach double figures, as fourth-seeded Wittenberg (18-8) moved on for a road test against No. 1 seed Denison on Friday night in the semifinals of the NCAA Division 3-level NCAC tournament.

Fellow Bowling Green graduate Braylon Banks, also a freshman guard for the Tigers scored two points and came up with a steal in two minutes against Wabash.

This season, Wardlow is averaging 5.5 points in 24 appearances, while Banks is averaging 1.0 points in four games for the Tigers.

BRESCIA FALLS IN RIVER STATES

Brescia’s season came to an end Wednesday with a 78-62 road loss to Shawnee State in the River States Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament.

Senior guard Linkin Lockhart, a South Warren graduate, scored 15 points – second on the team – for the Bearcats in the loss. Junior guard Braxton Highbaugh, an Edmonson County graduate, added three points, four rebounds and a pair of assists in eight minutes off the bench.

Lockhart finished the season second on the team in scoring (16.8 points per game) with a team-high 45 made 3-pointers along with averaging 3.8 rebounds per game.

Highbaugh, who started five of the 22 games he played in, averaged 7.5 points and 4.9 rebounds per game for NAIA-level Brescia (6-20).