Panthers hold off King to win season opener - Kentucky Wesleyan College Athletics

Box Score

The best thing that coach Todd Lee could take away from the Kentucky Wesleyan College men's basketball team's season opener was that it was a win.

The game wasn't pretty, and it wasn't precise, but the Panthers pulled out an 82-77 victory over King College on Saturday in front of 2,000 fans at the Sportscenter.

"It was a win, and at this point in the year, and where we are right now, we needed a win," Lee said. "What you saw is where we are at right now. We're not real good right now."

The Panthers have been fighting injuries since preseason practice started, and they had players in unfamiliar roles, trying to survive against a pressing, zone defense team that gave them a battle right to the last 10 seconds.

"Give King credit, they played a tough style that we had trouble with, because of our lack of depth," Lee said.

KWC had been in control from the 12-minute mark, building a 17-point lead and maintaining that through the next six minutes with the help of leading scorer Cardell McFarland (24 points) Anthony Young (17 points), Kwan Waller (12 points), Andre Sharp (11 points), Travis Owsley and Chris Williams. They all had baskets or made free throws during that stretch.

Young scored inside to give the Panthers an 80-64 lead with 5:03 to play.

That's when King began its push to make things interesting.

Clarence Smith scored three straight baskets, and Jason Seymore converted a traditional three-point play, made two free throws and scored another basket. Smith hit a 15-footer to complete the 13-2 run and cut KWC's lead to 80-75. The Panthers took a timeout with 2:04 left to try and regroup.

"I had one timeout left, and I was trying to figure out when to call it," Lee said.

McFarland missed a 3 with the shot clock winding down, and Seymore scored another inside basket to make it 80-77 with 1:20 to play.

Sharp missed a 3, but Jay Ivey got a key rebound to keep possession for the Panthers. Waller was fouled and went to the line, but he missed both free throws with 47 seconds to play.

Young stepped in and took a charge on King's next possession, and McFarland was able to make 1-of-2 free throws with 27 seconds to go.

"That was a real big charge that Anthony took there," McFarland said.

"Anthony rotated down defensively, and that was a game-winning play," Lee said.

King's Mark Dockery missed another 3, KWC got the ball, and McFarland made another 1-of-2 trip to the line with 10.8 seconds left to give the Panthers enough breathing room to escape.

McFarland continued his good work from the free-throw line, hitting 14-of-17 as the Panthers made 32-of-43 free throws.

There were 67 free throws taken between the two teams.

"In the second half we came out aggressive, but playing against their press was like a scramble out there," McFarland said. "Toward the end of the game we kind of lost our composure."

KWC made 21-of-49 shots from the floor (42.9 percent) and was 8-of-22 from 3-point range (36 percent).

King was led by Smith's 21 points and Seymore's 19.

King was 26-of-49 from the floor for 53.1 percent and it hit 6-of-18 on 3s.

KWC has until Thursday to heal up some more, which is when Asbury visits the Sportscenter for a 7:30 p.m. game.

Print Friendly Version