Box Score
Kentucky Wesleyan coach Todd Lee wasn't afraid to call it like it was after Saturday's 86-69 loss at No. 6 Bellarmine.
When asked who he thought played well despite the team suffering its fourth loss in five games, his answer was simple.
"I didn't think anyone played particularly well," Lee said.
Bellarmine torched KWC, shooting 28-of-56 (50 percent) from the field and never allowing the Panthers to lead for even a second.
The Knights (16-3, 8-3 Great Lakes Valley Conference) made nine 3-pointers and committed just six turnovers. Vance Hall burned the No. 18 Panthers (15-4, 7-4 GLVC) for 22 points and didn't turn the ball over one time. Chris Dowe scored just seven points, but dished out 10 assists while committing just one turnover.
KWC had four players in double figures — led by Dazmond Starke with 20 and Rico Ferguson with 17 — but Lee wanted more. He wanted someone on his side to give an effort like Hall or Dowe did.
More specifically, he wanted his players to impact the game.
"That's how you win a game," Lee said. "You've got guys that impact the game. We had guys that scored the ball tonight, but they didn't impact the game. Against a very good team, you need guys that impact the game in different ways — defensively, creating shots for their teammates, rebounding the ball, gaining possession. We didn't do that."
KWC struggled to build any sort of momentum throughout the game thanks to 14 turnovers. Perhaps a more astonishing figure was the Panthers' 0-for-11 performace from beyond the arc. That snapped KWC's streak of 691 games with a 3-pointer, an Division-II record.
In other words, Saturday was the first game since the 3-point shot was created in 1986 that KWC didn't make one.
"It's tough when you're not making any shots from the perimeter," Lee said. "They're a very good help team. We obviously shot the ball within the 3-point line. We got the ball inside how we like. But you've got to make jump shots when you're open. If you're not making jump shots and they are, it's going to be a long night."
The Panthers trailed by 13 at halftime and opened the second half with a 7-2 cut the lead to eight, 43-35, while Hall and Dowe each were on the bench with three fouls.
KWC couldn't maintain what was really its only stretch of momentum and the Knights went on their second 13-0 run of the game. Cornbread Walker had a 3-pointer blocked and Keisten Jones buried a 3 on the other end to put Bellarmine up 56-35, essentially putting the game out of reach.
"It's hard to play catch-up against them the way they catch the ball, move the ball," Lee said. "We had a good stretch in the second half and got it to single digits, then took a really bad shot that got blocked. They went down and hit a 3 — we had the ball, the momentum, and we were on a break and just made a bad decision. They made us pay for it."
KWC (15-4, 7-4 GLVC) host Wisconsin-Parkside on Thursday at 7:30.
