Box Score
Kentucky Wesleyan coach Todd Lee told his team at halftime that they may only have 20 minutes left in their season.
Trailing 41-39 at halftime to No. 10 seed William Jewell, the No. 7-seeded Panthers responded with intensity, highlighted by a 14-0 run, early on in the second half and cruised to a 93-75 win in the first round of the Great Lakes Valley Conference on Sunday at the Sportscenter.
KWC faces No. 2 seed Wisconsin-Parkside at 6 p.m. Thursday in the quarterfinals at the Ford Center in Evansville.
"The biggest difference was just the defensive pressure and intensity in the second half was much better," Lee said. "I thought the first half (William Jewell) ran their offense any way they wanted to. We lacked some intensity and we didn't put much pressure on the ball."
Rico Ferguson scored on a nifty move near the basket and drew a foul call with 17:47 left to play. Once he sunk his free throw to put KWC up 46-42, it seemed like the Panthers (20-7) finally got the boost of momentum they needed to open the flood gates.
From there, Lucas Barker stole a pass and put a Euro step on a defender to score, Kreig Oxley hit two free throws and Dazmond Starke converted a three-point play after a turnover.
Finally, Donovan Johnson knocked down a jumper that put KWC up 55-42 with 15:53 left to play. KWC eventually led by as many as 24 points.
Lee credited all of that to the defensive pressure creating transition baskets. The Panthers scored 16 points off of 10 William Jewell turnovers and outscored the Cardinals (13-14) 12-0 on fast break points.
"One thing is, in the first half, it seemed like they were setting up their defense all the time because they were scoring," Lee said. "Then they were setting up their zone, their man-to-man. The second half, because we were getting stops, we were able to go with the ball. We were getting some steals and some run-outs, some 3-on-2s and some 2-on-1s."
It wasn't always easy for the Panthers in this game, though.
They trailed by as many six several times in the first half and couldn't get much clicking offensively early on.
KWC ended up shooting 50 percent from the field in the first half, but the Cardinals were at 57.1 percent.
Center Dominique Dawson echoed Lee's remarks and said the Panthers had to clamp down defensively in the second half.
"It was all about defense," he said. "We let them shoot 57 percent in the first half. That's unacceptable, regardless of what team you're playing. We just talked about playing defense. We've just got to work harder to get stops. That's what we worked on and that's what we did in the second half."
Kreig Oxley led the Panthers in scoring with 20 points, while Ferguson and Starked added 12. The Panthers' depth also proved to be a weapon as they outscored William Jewell 44-15 on bench points.
KWC now gets a rematch with a Wisconsin-Parkside team that beat them twice this season by an average of three points.
"I think we owe them a game," Dawson said. "I think everybody's going to be hyped for it and looking forward to it."
