Williams heats up, drives Panthers - Kentucky Wesleyan College Athletics

Box Score

Pure shooters are told to keep shooting, and Kentucky Wesleyan College's Chris Williams isn't shy when it comes to heeding such advice.

Williams, coming into Sunday's game against Urbana with a 35-percent shooting percentage, drilled 6-of-11 shots, including 3-of-4 from 3-point range, as the No. 18 Panthers hammered the Blue Knights 106-79 before a sparse crowd at the Sportscenter.

"I never pay any attention to my shooting percentage -- I know I'm a good shooter," said Williams, a 6-foot-5 junior forward whose game-highs of 22 points and 11 rebounds ignited KWC (11-1) to its 11th consecutive victory. "It's a confidence-builder, though, to get in a streak where you hit three or four outside shots in a row.

"With me, I think the key is keeping my form as the game goes along. I'm expected to be a big rebounder for the team, I go at it as hard as I can while I'm in there, and sometimes my arms get tired. You have to fight through that, and I was able to do it today."

Wesleyan had little trouble with Urbana, who was defeated at Southern Indiana on Saturday night.

The Panthers jumped ahead 13-2 and, after a 9-0 run by the visitors, capped an 8-0 run of their own with a Willie Richardson jam off a Desmond Stephens lob that made it 21-11 at the 11-minute mark of the first half.

Urbana (7-7) still had some juice in the tank, pulling within 34-30 on a power layup by Justin Tyson at 3:59, but KWC closed the half with an 11-0 spurt -- including another dunk by Richardson -- to lead 49-32 at intermission.

Williams opened the second half with a 3-pointer to key a 9-2 run that pushed the Panthers in front 58-34 at 18:10.

The Blue Knights never got closer than 15 points the rest of the way.

It was a sound effort for KWC, which hit 50 percent from the field (32-of-64), 42 percent from 3-point range (8-of-19), and 83 percent from the free-throw stripe (34-of-41). The Panthers committed just 10 turnovers, while forcing the Blue Knights into 19 floor mistakes.

"We're starting to understand each other better, and we're starting to understand our system better," KWC coach Todd Lee said. "If our first option gets taken away, we have to go to the second option, and we're doing a better job of staying in the offensive flow. Earlier in the season, we were going one-on-one too many times if the play broke down.

"We've still got a long way to go defensively -- still sort of trying to find our identity at the defensive end. But we're getting better, and that's what it's all about as we get ready for (Great Lakes Valley) conference play."

In addition to the production of Williams, the Panthers got 19 points from Marico Stinson, who drained four 3-pointers. Maros Zuffa scored 13, Stephens had 12 points and seven assists, Kwan Waller had 12 points, and Andree' Wilson added 10 points.

The Blue Knights, who shot just 41 percent from the floor, were led by Marcus Pearl's 16 points. Robert Wilson scored 15, Tyson had 13, and Sean McCants added 10.

In all, 52 fouls were called in a whistle-laded a contest that featured a total of 71 free throws.

Wesleyan is off until Dec. 29 when it hosts Midwest Region foe Tiffin.

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