Kentucky Wesleyan College Athletics

Fortunately for the No. 25 Panthers, none of that matters in deciding a winner. KWC kept crawling back into the game and eventually escaped with a 76-68 win over Shaw to win the Glenn Young Invitational, thanks to an inspired performance from senior Dazmond Starke in overtime.

"That was a gut-check type of win where we just keep battling, keep going," coach Todd Lee said. "We'd cut it and then they'd hit a shot — hit a 3 — then we'd cut it back. I thought it showed a lot of mental toughness the way we played tonight."

Starke hit four crucial free throws in overtime and grabbed all five of KWC's rebounds in the extra frame.

KWC (4-0) never trailed in the overtime period and limited Shaw (3-3) to just four points.

Junior forward Donovan Johnson scored with 8.8 seconds left in regulation to give KWC a 64-62 lead — its first since a 2-0 lead to start the game. A defensive breakdown allowed Shaw's Andre Paulk to score with 1.4 seconds left and force overtime.

But that was when Starke took over for the Panthers, hitting all four of his free throw attempts.

"I'm normally a good free throw shooter, but I've been struggling the last couple games," Starke said. "Coach has been on me every day in practice working on my free throw technique. He's been helping me out and making me better, just working on going to the line and taking my time."

He finished with 19 points and 14 rebounds, earning him a spot on the all-tournament team.

KWC tried to claw back the entire second half, but Shaw seemed to have an answer every time. The Panthers cut the lead to one early in the second half, but Shaw was able to extend it all the way to 11 with 9:44 left to play.

The Panthers then trimmed it to five, but the Bears hit a 3 and made it an eight-point game. That was the most Shaw led by the rest of the way though, as KWC was finally able to get over the hump.

"That's what I'm most proud of with the team, that we didn't back down," Lee said. "We kept coming. It's a 40-minute game, obviously, and our guys hung in there. We just had to make plays down the stretch and our guys did that."

Most of the game was played at the free throw line, as 52 fouls were called on both teams combined. After shooting just eight free throws in the first half, KWC went to the line 27 times in the second half and overtime periods and missed just four free throws.

"We didn't shoot the 3 well, but it was good to see us hit some free throws," Lee said. "It was good to see Daz step up and knock down free throws. ... In a game like that where we're getting fouled, it's big to step up and knock down our free throws, and our guys did that."

Once again, depth proved to be a big difference for KWC. Four players finished in double figures, and the Panthers got 39 points from the bench.

Freshman point guard Lucas Barker played 43 minutes and tallied 11 points, five rebounds, six assists and five steals. He was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.

One sour note to come out of Saturday's hard-fought win was that senior guard Cornbread Walker, who's already been dealing with a wrist injury, exited the game in the second half with what Lee said was a turned ankle. Walker was on crutches following the game and was sent to the hospital for X-rays.

"It's a big win for us because as a team it tells us what we can do together," Starke said. "It brings us together. Each win and each game that we're playing, we take a stepping stone toward what we're trying to accomplish at the end of the year." 

All-Tournament Team

Norman Pope, Concordia (NY)

Lucas Barker, Kentucky Wesleyan (Most Outstandin Player)

Dazmond Starke, Kentucky Wesleyan

Karron Johnson, Shaw (NC)

Keith Mitchell, Shaw (NC)

Steven Kohli, Southeastern Oklahoma State