Panthers upend No. 2 Knights - Kentucky Wesleyan College Athletics

Box Score

Kentucky Wesleyan College got a monumental scoring outburst from Cardell McFarland to keep Bellarmine from making some history of its own on Saturday night.

McFarland scored 47 points, tied for third-highest in a single game in KWC history, to lead the Panthers to a 94-86 win over No. 2 Bellarmine at Knights Hall.

Mike Williams holds the KWC scoring record with 51 points, which he set against Austin Peay on Dec. 22, 1972, at the Sportscenter.

McFarland's scoring total set a single-game road record for KWC. McFarland also set the Knights Hall scoring record.

He made 15-of-22 from the floor, was 7-of-9 from 3-point range and hit 10-of-12 free throws.

"I hit my first couple of shots, and that got me up," McFarland said. "It's fun. I'm more excited about the win. It doesn't matter if I score zero points. It was a big win for us. I'm speechless."

Kwan Waller had 17 points and made all three of his 3-point tries before fouling out. Anthony Young put up a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Chris Dowe scored 31 to lead the Knights.

KWC handed Bellarmine its first loss in GLVC play this year. The Knights finished 17-1 and were trying to become the first team to run the table in the league.

Bellarmine fell to 24-2 in front of a sellout crowd of 2,800.

"It was a great team win," KWC coach Todd Lee said. "To come in here in this environment, with what we had on the line, hasn't really hit me. I told our guys they weren't going to back off. I was proud of the way we kept our poise.

"We needed to stay together and make plays, and not let this crowd get out of control."

The Panthers certainly did that in running their record to 17-8, 10-8 in the GLVC.

They were up 62-48 with nine minutes to play and were able to hold off Bellarmine each time it made a run.

KWC held a 43-38 lead at the half, with McFarland hitting a long-range 3-pointer four seconds before the break. Marseilles Stewart and Brandon Johnson got some steals and chased down some loose basketballs in the last few minutes before the half, and Wesleyan was able to convert those possessions into points. It made six of its last eight shots of the first half.

The Panthers kept the pressure on early in the second half, getting out to a 52-39 lead in the first five minutes.

Lee was pleased with the way the Panthers kept the lead, despite Bellarmine's repeated runs.

"Maybe we're growing up a little bit more," Lee said. "Bellarmine has been down in some of their games, and they were not going to go away. We had to keep our poise."

KWC had the Knights on the ropes at the Sportscenter on Dec. 2, but ended up falling 78-75.

Lee devised a game plan for Saturday to take advantage of KWC's ability to score off the dribble.

"We wanted to spread them out and bounce the ball," Lee said. "Cardell was stepping them off and knocking down shots. We didn't run any offense in the second half other than ball screen, or spread the floor and try to bounce it.

"But Cardell is not going to score like that unless he's shooting the ball well."

The victory helped earn KWC a home game in the first round of the GLVC Tournament next Saturday at the Sportscenter. The Panthers will likely play Missouri-St. Louis and tipoff will be 7:30 p.m. as the second game of a GLVC Tournament doubleheader with KWC's women.

Tickets to the tournament will not be on sale until after Tuesday.

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