Panthers fall to Norse in OT - Kentucky Wesleyan College Athletics

Box Score

In a game with 11 ties and 10 lead changes, it's usually a couple of stretches in the game that make the difference.

Kentucky Wesleyan College worked hard to force overtime with Northern Kentucky University, but it was the Norse who gained command and kept it in the extra period.

That allowed NKU to escape with an important 91-82 Great Lakes Valley Conference win over the Panthers on Saturday in front of about 2,000 at the Sportscenter.

The No. 17 Panthers were outscored 14-5 in the extra period, and there were a couple of trends KWC coach Todd Lee noticed during the game that he was not happy with in the aftermath.

“I was disappointed in two things,” Lee said. “The first was defensively. They come to our place and go 7-of-12 from 3 in the second half. We scored enough to win. We didn't guard well enough. And two, we had a couple of stretches, especially in the first half when they made their run, where we backed off and hung our heads. I felt it again in overtime. Our body language wasn't good.”

The Panthers battled through a very even second half, getting a final possession in regulation and calling timeout with 7.1 seconds to go. They got the ball inbounds to Cardell McFarland, who drove the length of the court and made a layup to tie it at 77-all with less than two seconds to play.

NKU took a timeout with 0.6 seconds and made a baseball pass nearly the length of the court to Josh Tabb, who missed at the horn.

KWC (13-4, 6-4) never led in the overtime, and committed two straight turnovers to reduce its chances while down 82-79. NKU went back up 84-79 on a Malcolm Eleby drive, but KWC came back with two free throws from McFarland to trim it to 84-81 with 1:24 to go.

Corey Sorrell made a follow shot to give the Norse an 86-81 lead with 50 seconds to play. Anthony Young missed a 3 for KWC that NKU rebounded.

From there, Eleby made 3-of-4 free throws and Ethan Faulkner converted two more in the final 33 seconds to seal the victory. McFarland made 1-of-2 free throws over the same span as KWC ran out of chances.

“Defensively we didn't put together enough stops,” said Young, who scored a game-high 23 points in 43 minutes.

He led five Panthers scoring in double figures. McFarland and Kwan Waller each scored 18 points and Chris Williams added 11.

The Panthers didn't get out on NKU's shooters effectively enough, nor did they rebound well. NKU hit 31-of-55 from the floor for 56 percent, and were 8-of-17 from beyond the 3-point line for 47 percent.

Eleby and Bobby Shannon each scored 17 points to lead NKU.

KWC made 29-of-55 from the floor for 52.7 percent, but was 4-of-13 on 3s and was outrebounded 34-26. The Panthers also had three players foul out, including Waller.

NKU went on a 14-0 run in the first half to take a 26-18 lead and leave Lee feeling uncomfortable about how his team handled adversity.

Norse coach Dave Bezold, conversely, was proud of how his team earned a tough road win over a KWC team that had won the last two matchups between the rivals. NKU rose to 14-3, 7-3 in the league, but had lost 85-74 at East Division leading Bellarmine on Thursday night.

“We did a good job attacking the basket in the second half, and we were fortunate to hit some 3s,” Bezold said.

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