Box Score
The No. 23 Panthers weren't able to maintain an eight-point lead and suffered their sixth loss in seven games, a 67-64 loss to Lewis at the Sportscenter on Saturday.
Coach Todd Lee summed up his team's drastic slide rather succinctly.
"Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want," he said. "We're getting a lot of experience right now."
Lewis (14-7, 8-5 Great Lakes Valley Conference) outlasted the Panthers (15-6, 7-6 GLVC) by cashing in at the free throw line.
The Flyers made 92.9 percent (26-of-28) while KWC made just 10-of-14.
Lewis also bounced back from a 12-0 KWC run midway through the second half that put the Panthers up by eight.
Dominique Dawson, who finished with 11 points and 12 rebounds, keyed that run for KWC. He scored on a dunk, got the foul and coverted an old-fashioned 3-point play. He scored again down low, then on a tip-in off a missed 3 by Kreig Oxley that got the crowd on its feet.
Lewis scored five unanswered and eventually took a 56-55 lead. From there, it was a one or two possession game the rest of the way.
"We got up eight and weren't able to sustain it," Lee said. "Foul trouble played a big role in it…we couldn't play (Dazmond Starke) much and Lucas Barker was in foul trouble most of the night. At times, I thought the guys that came in did a good job. We were just in foul trouble a lot.
"A lot of their points were either made 3s or they shot free throws. We defended well and held them to 38 percent. It's hard to battle the 16 points at the line."
Lewis made eight free throws in the final 9:39 and missed just one, while KWC made just four. Cornbread Walker hit a 3 to make it 63-62, before Nick Valla hit two free throws for Lewis.
With 24.4 seconds left, KWC ran off 10 seconds before calling a timeout. Barker had an open look from about 25 feet out that missed right and Lewis got the rebound and made two free throws to seal it.
"You have to understand that it is hard to win in this league with new players," Lee said. "We had one starter returning from last year's team (Oxley), and he was out for eight weeks…It's such a fine line between winning and losing. If we win two or three of these close games, we're having a different conversation. You've got to make plays at the end of the game, at the end of the clock.
"We've got a number of new players out there and guys that are going through it for the first time. It's hard."
Aside from double-digit losses to Southern Indiana and Bellarmine, KWC's other four losses have come by an average of just more than three points.
Oxley's been through the gauntlet that is the GLVC before. He said if the new players didn't realize how good the conference is, they do now.
"Four of our six losses, we've had a chance to tie or go ahead in the last 30 seconds," he said. "The ball just hasn't bounced our way."
The Panthers now play four of their final five regular season games on the road. That stretch includes games at Indianapolis and Southern Indiana and a home game against Bellarmine.
"We all know there's still a lot of basketball left," Oxley said. "We've just got to come each day and never take a win for granted."
