KWC turns up defense in win - Kentucky Wesleyan College Athletics

Kentucky Wesleyan College Athletics

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Kentucky Wesleyan College played one of its best defensive games of the year Friday night in a 79-61 men's basketball victory over Lindsey Wilson.

“That was one of the first games we've won this year at the defensive end,” KWC coach Todd Lee said. “After the first five or six minutes we really started defending well. Our guys did a good job defending their sets. We switched when we were supposed to, and when we weren't supposed to switch, we didn't.”

The Panthers, No. 4 in NCAA Division II, didn't allow Lindsey Wilson to break the 35-percent mark shooting from the field in either half at the Sportscenter. LW made 19-of-55 from the floor for 34.5 percent for the game. LW was 10-of-26 from 3-point range for 38.5 percent.

Dominique Dawson was active defensively and on the glass for KWC in the post. Dawson pulled down 14 rebounds and blocked three shots to go with scoring four points.

“It seemed like he had more blocks than that,” Lee said.

The Panthers rolled their record to 10-0 and got a strong performance all the way around from Anthony Young.

The senior scored a game-high 23 points and pulled down 13 rebounds. He was attacking the basket from KWC's first possession and he hit 8-of-9 free throws.

“Going into the break I was in single digits scoring a couple of games, and that's not normal for me,” Young said. “Coach Lee told me he was getting calls and e-mails from people wanting to know what was wrong. And it was me, not being as intense as I needed to be. I came out in this game looking to be aggressive from the start.”

It was definitely the kind of game Lee wanted to see Young have coming off a long Christmas break. KWC last played a game on Dec. 15.

“You can look at his stat line, see his rebounds and how many times he got to the free-throw line, and that's a direct barometer of the rest of his game,” Lee said. “If he is not rebounding and active, then he'll only go to the line three or four times.”

KWC's backcourt had to chase Lindsey Wilson's guards throughout the game, and it took awhile for the Panther guards to get in an offensive flow.

Cardell McFarland, Brandon Johnson and Kreig Oxley didn't hit a shot from the floor

in the first half. They responded well in the second half, McFarland finishing with 17 points and Johnson pitching in 10. Marseilles Stewart pitched in 12 points.

KWC shot 43 percent from the field (26-of-60) and 6-of-18 on 3-pointers for 33 percent. KWC made 21-of-26 free throws for 80.8 percent.

Lindsey Wilson (10-3), No. 18 in NAIA, was led by Chase Cox with 17 points.

KWC has a few days to prepare for the start of a grinding Great Lakes Valley Conference schedule. Drury comes in to open the heart of the GLVC schedule on Thursday night.

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