No. 7 KWC upset by Pumas again - Kentucky Wesleyan College Athletics

Kentucky Wesleyan College Athletics

Scoreboard

Box Score

Dayvon Sloan scored a game-best 20 points to lift Saint Joseph's to a 74-64 upset of No. 7 Kentucky Wesleyan College in a men's basketball game on Tuesday night in Rensselaer, Ind.

The loss drops KWC to 8-2 overall and 1-2 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference entering a 7:30 p.m. league game against Missouri S&T on Thursday at the Sportscenter.

"We didn't run our offense very well, we didn't shoot well, we didn't shoot free throws well," Kentucky Wesleyan coach Todd Lee said. "I thought we tried defensively, but we're just not very good right now.

"We've got a lot of guys playing out of position -- it's very frustrating."

Saint Joseph's (6-6, 2-2), which upset Wesleyan 72-70 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Midwest Regional last season, shot just 37 percent from the field in the first half, but the Pumas made all five of their free-throw attempts and did not allow KWC a single offensive rebound.

St. Joe's led 33-27 at intermission.

"We've been beaten on the boards everywhere we've played recently," Lee said. "That's been an area of inconsistency for us all season long."

KWC charged back early in the second half to whittle its deficit to a single point (40-39) -- but the Panthers couldn't get over the hump.

Saint Joseph's regained full control of the contest down the stretch, taking its largest lead (69-56) following a pair of Sloan free throws at 1:13.

The Panthers answered with a 3-pointer by Marseilles Stewart, but could get no closer than nine points in the final minute.

Sloan, a sophomore guard from Louisville, finished 9-of-9 from the foul stripe, and as a team the Pumas went 15-of-17 (88 percent).

Michael Horton produced 14 points and five assists, and Jake Hassler had 12 points and eight rebounds for Saint Joseph's.

Anthony Young led KWC with 19 points, but was just 5-of-18 from the field, including 1-of-6 from 3-point range.

"They didn't double (-team) Anthony all the time, but they had a crowd around him," Lee said. "That made it difficult."

Cardell McFarland added 16 points and four assists for the Panthers, and Stewart came off the bench to finish with 10 points and a team-best seven rebounds.

KWC was 20-of-59 from the field (33 percent) and just 6-of-25 from 3-point range (24 percent). The Panthers made 18-of-28 free throws (64 percent).

Saint Joseph's won the rebounding battle, 38-31.

Print Friendly Version