Box Score
Victory felt sweet for the Kentucky Wesleyan men's basketball team Friday night at the Sportscenter, but a victory Saturday would feel much sweeter, according to Panthers first-year head coach
Happy Osborne.
Moments after KWC overwhelmed winless Wilberforce 100-64 in the semifinals of the KWC Holiday Tournament, Osborne was already thinking of Saturday's 7:30 p.m. championship game matchup against Missouri S&T.
"It's great to get a win, but it would really mean something if we could find a way to beat S&T," Osborne said. "We've got to find a way to break their pressure, and we've got to hold their shooting down to 41 or 42 percent. They're a quality basketball team, and we'll have to come ready to play to have a shot."
The Panthers, who snapped a five-game losing streak and won for the first time since defeating Quincy 70-60 in the season-opener on Nov. 8, had no trouble with overmatched Wilberforce.
Wesleyan (2-5) zoomed to a 17-7 lead in the first six minutes behind the play of
Lonnie Hayes, Patrick Neel and Rico Ferguson, who earned plaudits from his coach afterward.
"
Rico Ferguson really played with a lot of fire tonight," Osborne said, "and it made a difference for us."
Late in the half, the Panthers scored six straight points and took 49-28 lead on a
Ken-Jah Bosley 3-pointer at 2:10.
The Bulldogs (0-11), however, closed the half with 9-2 spurt — trimming the intermission margin to 51-37 when Sean Cassidy nailed a 3-pointer from the left wing at 0:03.
Wesleyan took complete command early in the second half, getting a conventional three-point play from Ferguson, a 3-point basket by Lucas barker and a driving bucket by
Lonnie Hayes to go on top 59-37 at the 16:42 mark.
Wilberforce never got closer than 19 points the rest of the way.
"I thought we hustled and played hard," Osborne said. "We came up with 46 deflections, which shows me that we were getting after it at the defensive end. "We passed the ball better, and we worked at everything as a unit, which really pleased me. We stuck together, and that's what this basketball team has to do to be successful."
Bosley led KWC with 24 points on 7-of-12 floor shooting and 8-of-9 accuracy from the foul stripe. Hayes scored 19 points, Ferguson tossed in 16,
Patrick Neel produced 1`2 and Barker added 10.
Barker paced Wesleyan with five assists, Ferguson made four steals and Dominique Dawson led the way with eight rebounds.
Cassidy and DeVontae Berry each scored 15 points to lead Wilberforce, which was out-rebounded 40-26 and turned the ball over 25 times.
