Panthers stop Bryan, 71-57 - Kentucky Wesleyan College Athletics

Box Score

Coach Todd Lee knew his Kentucky Wesleyan College men's basketball team played well enough offensively to beat Bryan 71-57 on Tuesday night at the Sportscenter.

But the only thing he was concerned with afterward was the Panthers' defensive lapses.

"I look down through here and all I can see is the defensive mistakes -- and no rebounding," Lee said as he went through the stat sheet for the Panthers. "It's hard to even see the points."

Maros Zuffa scored 18 points to lead the Panthers and had a good night shooting, hitting 7-of-11 from the floor and 3-of-6 from 3-point range.

But Lee was more interested in what Zuffa didn't do at the end of the first half.

"We had an eight-point lead and we weren't aware of No. 13 (Josh Decker), who will shoot it from NBA 3-point range," Lee said. "Maros gives up that 3 at the end of the half, and we go in up five instead of up eight."

Zuffa wasn't the only guilty player on the defensive end.

Kwan Waller also gave up a long-range 3 to Decker, which got Lee's attention.

"On defense, we didn't come out ready to play," Zuffa said. "We've worried about our offense more than our defense, and that's not what a mature team does."

Bryan is an NAIA school from east Tennessee that had several skilled players and a huge desire to hustle on the court.

The Lions took the issue to KWC early, racing out to a 21-11 lead on a combination of 3s and drives through KWC's defense.

"We didn't defend, and we weren't aggressive in the first half," Lee said. "The way you could tell that was we only had two team fouls 17 minutes into the first half. They had 14 offensive rebounds in the game. They got to a lot of loose balls. If there was a long rebound, they chased it down."

KWC (4-1) picked up the pace early in the second half, most noticeably closing out and players staying with their man better defensively throughout Bryan's possessions.

"We did get after them better in the second half," Lee said.

Chris Williams was the only other double-figure scorer for the Panthers with 13 points in 32 minutes. He was 3-of-4 from 3-point range. The Panthers were 8-of-18 on 3s.

"Once we started running our offense harder and all the way through, we got good looks and knocked them down," Zuffa said.

The Panthers made 26-of-53 shots from the floor for 49 percent. They were 11-of-16 on free throws.

Where the aggression factor really showed was on the glass, where KWC only claimed a 32-31 advantage.

"The coaches will harp on us not boxing out; we gave them too many second chances," said Travis Owsley, who was working at point guard while starter Desmond Stephens gave his tight hamstrings one more game of rest.

Owsley, a junior from Owensboro Catholic High School, had a good floor game, logging seven assists with just one turnover, to go with seven points and four rebounds.

"Travis is getting some valuable experience running the team," Lee said.

Bryan was led by Scott Newton with 14 points. Derek Batt had 13 points, and Keith Bauer added 12 points and 10 rebounds.

KWC will return to action Friday for the first night of the Hampton Inn/Worth Insurance Owensboro Classic at the Sportscenter. The Panthers will face Lambuth (6-1) in the 6 p.m. game. Brescia University will take on Alaska-Fairbanks at 8 p.m.

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