Box Score
Lake Superior State withstood every run that Kentucky Wesleyan made and continued its hot shooting throughout the game to hold of the Panthers, 104-90, on Wednesday at the Sportscenter.
The Lakers shot 64 percent field and buried 15 3s to hand KWC its fifth straight loss despite a good shooting night for the Panthers.
Lake Superior State Guard Derek Billing torched KWC for 41 points, including 7-of-11 from beyond the arc.
"If I knew how to fix it, I'd have fixed it," coach Happy Osborne said of defending the Lakers' hot shooting. "Here's what it takes: you've got have somebody on your team that says I want to guard him and I'm going to do it. I'm going to stop it. It's got to be personal enough to someone that they'll do whatever it takes to do it. That's how you do it."
It seemed that every time KWC (1-5) made a run, the Lakers (6-0) quickly put an end to it by knocking down a 3, be it contested or open, and it usually came from Billing.
KWC had a golden opportunity to tie the game early in the second half after trailing 47-41 at halftime, but Dominique Dawson's dunk attempt clanked high off the rim. LSSU's Alex Williams then knocked down a 3. The Panthers then pulled within three twice midway through the second half, only to be greeted by a 3-pointer from Billing to stop the threat.
Billing again knocked down a 3-pointer when Rico Ferguson's 3-point play made it a 72-71 game with 8:35 left to play. The Lakers then opened it up with an 11-4 run over the next four minutes to take an 86-75 lead with 4:49 left to play. Their lead stretched to as much as 13.
KWC shot 53 percent and knocked down 8-of-19 3-pointers (42.1 percent). The Panthers also won the rebounding battle, 26-25, and made it to the free throw line more than LSSU.
It was the inability to stop the Lakers on the perimeter that proved costly.
"As a coach, I couldn't find a way to stop them and I'll take the hit," Osborne said. "I've got to figure it out. It's my program. It's on me."
It wasn't just Billing who did the damage for LSSU, though. Tony Harris scored 18 points and Cameron Metz had 14.
Senior guard Lonnie Hayes led the way with 33 points and was 4-of-8 on 3-pointers. Freshman Ken-Jah Bosley finished with 14 points, senior guard Rico Fergsuon had 13 and sophomore guard Lucas Barker scored 10 and also had five assists and two steals.
The Panthers won't have much time to dwell on this game as they'll be back at the Sportscenter Friday with a game against Wilberforce in the Holiday Tournament.
"Where I'm at, I'm not demoralized," Osborne said. "We play again Friday. There's no time to get down. We'll get better in practice."
