Box Score
When Kentucky Wesleyan big man and leading scorer
Anthony Young took a seat on the bunch with his fourth foul, it set the stage for a possible momentum shift against a Cedarville squad that had already made a couple of runs at the Panthers.
It did. In KWC's favor.
The fifth-ranked Panthers went with a smaller lineup, and the change in tempo was definitely to KWC's liking as the Panthers went on a 9-0 run and pulled away for an 83-68 victory on Saturday at the Sportscenter.
The game also marked the return of senior captain
Marseilles Stewart, who had been out since the start of the season due to injury.
Stewart logged 20 minutes, and he along with
Cornbread Walker moved into different positions when Young went out with 8:00 left to go and Wesleyan holding on to a 65-57 lead.
“We had a smaller lineup with Marseilles at the five and Cornbread at the four,” Panthers' coach Todd Lee said. “When (Young) went out with his fourth foul, we defended pretty well.”
The Panthers (7-0) put the game by holding Cedarville scoreless over the next 3:40.
Walker scored on an assist from Stewart, then popped a 3-pointer from the top of the circle.
Kreig Oxley then canned another 3 from the left corner after
Brandon Johnson pulled down a key offensive rebound.
Johnson then hit one of two free throws with 4:49 to go, giving KWC a 74-59 lead. The Yellow Jackets finally got on the board when Bryan Redic scored with 4:20 to play.
“They're a good team,” Lee said of Cedarville. “They've got a bunch of guys that can really shoot the ball. I knew they weren't going to go away. They set a lot of screens... We defended them better in the second half, but we're not satisfied with how we defended overall.
“We've got two things we need to work on: Defense and rebounding. That never changes.”
KWC edged out the Yellow Jackets on the glass 32-30 after being outrebounded 17-14 in the second half.
The Panthers also clamped down on Cedarville from the 3-point line.
The Yellow Jackets went 6-for-21 from long range, 28.6 percent, after coming into the contest shooting 45 percent from beyond the arc.
Cedarville (6-3) also played the final minutes without post player Brian Grant, a 6-8 sophomore from Kingston, Jamaica, who left the game with severe leg cramps.
Young “is a tough matchup because he can shoot it, and he can post up,” Yellow Jackets coach Pat Estepp said. “The tough part was they went small and our best post player was cramping up and he was done. We really needed him in this tight game. KWC is a really good team.”
Young was a handful all night, scoring 20 of his game-high 28 points in the first half. He also went 2-for-3 from 3-point range and grabbed five rebounds.
KWC built a pair of 11-point leads against Cedarville but the Yellow Jackets fought back both times.
They cut the Panthers' edge to 35-33 with 2:24 left in the first half when Marcus Reineke scored. But KWC close out the half with an 11-2 run as a pair of free throws by Johnson gave the Panthers a 46-35 edge at the break.
Redic and Grant led Cedarville with 12 points each. Zimmy Nwogno added 10 along with seven boards.
Johnson finished with 16 points.
Cardell McFarland tossed in 10. Walker grabbed six rebounds.
“We have had different guys step up,” Lee said, “and that's been good. We've found ways to win. We've dug in and our seniors have stepped up and really led us.”
KWC will play its second game in three days when it hosts Union College at 7 Monday night. That contest had appeared on some early schedules as a 7:30 p.m. start.
