Kentucky Wesleyan College almost grabbed an elusive victory against South Carolina in an exhibition basketball game Tuesday night.
Usually competitive over the last four years against the Gamecocks, KWC lost 68-67 on a driving layup by Brenton Williams with 2.6 seconds left in Columbia.
KWC's
Kreig Oxley missed a desperation heave from about three-quarters court as time expired. Oxley had put KWC up 67-66 with 6.9 seconds to go after hitting two free throws.
"They had 6.9 seconds, that's a long way to go," KWC coach Todd Lee said on his postgame radio show. "We let the guy split us and go right to the basket. You hate to give up a layup like that, but that is a long time. They made a couple of more plays than we did down the stretch."
KWC had several 10-point leads in the first half, but South Carolina made a late run to take a 37-31 lead into halftime. KWC opened the second half with a 9-0 run and maintained a small advantage throughout most of the second half.
"I thought we controlled the second half," Lee said. "We emphasized rebounding better and defending for longer periods of time. We outrebounded them, and we sustained defense deeper into the shot clock."
KWC held a 35-31 rebounding advantage, but it committed 21 turnovers.
South Carolina shot 28 percent in the second half (7-of-25) and 38 percent for the game (19-of-50). SC was also 27-of-38 from the free-throw line.
KWC was led by Dominique Dawson's 13 points and nine rebounds. Oxley had 11 points, as did Patrick Neel, a 6-foot-4 sophomore who drew the start, made all four of his floor shots, and both free throws. Neel did commit four fouls and only played 14 minutes.
"Patrick came in and battled, and he gets 11 points, which you don't expect," Lee said.
KWC made 26-of-54 from the floor for 48 percent, and 13-of-17 free throws for 76.5 percent.?South Carolina coach Frank Martin was evidently not pleased with his team's performance, spending more than 45 minutes in the locker room with his team before meeting with media there.
Martin told The Gamecock student newspaper in Columbia he didn't gameplan for KWC, and wanted to see how the Gamecocks would respond.
South Carolina was also missing several players because of injuries.?The Gamecocks were led by Williams' 22 points. He made 9-of-10 free throws, had three assists and three steals in 38 minutes. Lakeem Jackson had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
KWC returns to exhibition action on Saturday when it travels to Western Kentucky University for a 7 p.m. tipoff.
