KWC pulls away for win - Kentucky Wesleyan College Athletics

Kentucky Wesleyan College Athletics

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In a contest that was tougher than expected well into the second half, No. 4 Kentucky Wesleyan finally shifted into overdrive down the stretch to pull away from stubborn Salem International 104-78 on Thursday night at the Sportscenter.

The Panthers improve to 8-0 and do not hit the hardwood again until Dec. 30, when they entertain in-state NAIA representative Lindsey Wilson College.

Ball security proved to be the major issue for Wesleyan against cat-quick Salem International (1-10), which had a hand in forcing the Panthers into 24 floor mistakes.

“Obviously, we've got to do a better job of taking care of the basketball — that's far too many turnovers,” KWC head coach Todd Lee said. “Some of our problems had to do with (Salem's) quickness, but a lot of it was on us, too.

“To our credit, I thought we showed some heart in the second half after Salem made a nice run at us. We responded the way I want us to respond in situations like that.”

After carving out a hard-earned 10-point halftime lead (45-35), the Panthers scored nine of the first 12 points of the second half and threatened to blow out the Tigers — Anthony Young's 3-pointer at 16:48 putting Wesleyan on top 54-38.

Salem International never stopped battling, however, and responded with a torrid 11-0 run, with point guard Marcus Ludy draining a deep 3-pointer from the right wing to pull the Tigers within 54-49 and force Lee to call timeout at 13:37.

Two Ludy free throws at 12:33 kept the visitors within five, but that's when Wesleyan hit the accelerator -- outscoring Salem International 17-2 over the next two minutes. Cardell McFarland's 3-pointer capped the run and pushed the Panthers in front 75-55 with 8:25 to play.

The Tigers could never get closer than 15 the rest of the way.

“We've still got several things we need to improve on,” Lee said. “We need to improve our work ethic in practice, as well as our attention to detail in scouting reports and things of that nature. And, we need to take better care of the basketball and continue to get better at the defensive end.

“We're doing a lot of good things, too, but we still need to get better.”

Senior shooting guard McFarland led KWC with 26 points and five assists. The All-American candidate was 7-of-10 from the floor and made 10-of-11 free throws.

Brandon Johnson (18 points, six rebounds, five assists), Cornbread Walker (13 points), Dominique Dawson (11 points, six rebounds) and Marseilles Stewart (11 points) all had productive outings.

Senior All-American candidate Anthony Young was plagued by foul trouble -- picking up his fourth personal at 13:47 of the second half -- and finished with only eight points and three rebounds in 22 minutes.

Kenneth McCornell scored 17 points and Ludy added 16 to pace the Tigers, who committed 23 floor errors of their own. Ray'mar Porter and Juanito Moises each added 10 points.

KWC dominated the glass, outrebounding the smaller Tigers 38-26.

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