Panthers weather Storm, 75-73 - Kentucky Wesleyan College Athletics

Box Score

There was more than a little excitement at the old Sportscenter on Saturday night.

Kentucky Wesleyan College escaped Lake Erie 75-73, but not until Kwan Waller made a big-time defensive steal with four seconds left, then had to be helped to his feet after diving behind the Lake Erie bench.

"After the deflection, I tried to save it in and I hit my head near the bench," Waller said. "I'm all right now."

But he wasn't sure what had happened immediately.

"I head the crowd reaction, and I knew something good had happened," Waller said.

He got the ball into Desmond Stephens, who hurried up the court to run the clock out, setting off a celebration with KWC students running onto the floor.

KWC (10-1) had a roller-coaster ride to get to that point. The No. 25 Panthers went up 18 in the first 15 seconds of the second half.

Lake Erie got going with the hot shooting of Ethan Bradshaw, who finished with a game-high 31 points, going 4-of-7 from 3-point range and hitting 9-of-12 free throws.

"Bradshaw made some tough shots," Lake Erie coach Cliff Hunt said.

That included a deep 3-pointer from more than 25 feet to put the Storm up 69-65 with 4:55 to play. KWC didn't let them get further away than that, tying the game 69-all, but needing six free-throw attempts to make four, the last of which was by Stephens, who converted 1-of-2 at the 2:41 mark.

Bradshaw nailed another 3, and Alex Davis made 1-of-2 free throws to give Lake Erie a 73-69 cushion with 1:39 to play.

Chris Williams answered with a 3 from the corner, cutting the deficit to 73-72 with 1:23 left. The Panthers got the lead back, 74-73, with 53 seconds to go on a Stephens 16-footer, then Stephens converted another free throw with 22 seconds left for a 75-73 advantage. The Panthers took a timeout to set their defense, and KWC coach Todd Lee knew who Lake Erie would dial up.

"We knew they were going to go to Bradshaw, and we told Kwan he had no other responsibility than to stay with Bradshaw and deny him the ball," Lee said. "They set a double screen, he came off a curl and got it."

Waller got through the first screen without a problem.

"I had trouble getting through the second screen, but I had to get to him," Waller said.

Waller slapped the ball out of Bradshaw's hands near the Lake Erie bench.

"We told Kwan after the game was over that if you slap down on the ball, you leave it in the officials' hands," Lee said.

Hunt would have preferred going for the tie and overtime, but an assistant coach worked the Bradshaw angle.

"My assistant said go for the 3, and we had a player who was hot," Hunt said. "We tried to set up a double screen, but we ran the play to the wrong side and didn't get a good look."

It ultimately worked out, although it wasn't a smooth evening for the Panthers.

They got 18 points from Stephens and 16 more from Williams, but they couldn't cool off Lake Erie from the floor. With less than four minutes left, Lake Erie was shooting 70 percent in the second half. The Storm (4-7) finished 25-of-53 for 47.2 percent. They were 7-of-16 from 3-point range. Point guard Antonio Kidd went 3-for-7 on 3s.

KWC struggled from the floor, hitting 40.7 percent (22-of-54). The Panthers hit 24-of-33 free throws for 73 percent.

"We had trouble not finishing underneath, not hitting our free throws, I don't know what that was," Stephens said.

Players on both sides got more physical as the game went on, and both teams were also jawing with each other in the second half.

There were four technical fouls called, two on Shawn Rouse and another on Willie Richardson from KWC. Rouse was ejected on his second technical.

"It was a very physical game, but we don't get technical fouls," Lee said. "We lost our composure at home, and we can't get technical fouls. We will have some extra running or something."

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