Box Score
It wasn't just coach-speak, evidently, when Happy Osborne talked up Alderson Broaddus ahead of Saturday's Great Midwest Athletic Conference game at the Sportscenter.
The result, an drubbing of the Panthers at the hands of the visiting Battlers, led Osborne to let out an "I told you so" following the game.
"They out-executed us," he said. "They out-coached us. They out-rebounded us. They out-toughed us. They out-smarted us. We couldn't hit a shot to save our lives against zone. We were 7-for-26 from the 3. We're better than that. They just out-toughed us."
The stat sheet backs Osborne up.
Alderson Broaddus (10-4, 4-0 G-MAC) was 28-for-47 (59.6 percent) from the field and hit a blistering 7-of-16 (43.8 percent) from 3-point range. Four of those came in the second half, but more importantly came at critical times when KWC (10-7, 5-1) was trying to make a run.
KWC trailed, 35-26, at halftime but pulled within three, 42-39, at the 12:38 mark in the second half. Alderson Broaddus then answered with back-to-back 3s from Ron Miller and Malcolm Tatum.
Two minutes later, Ken-Jah Bosley scored on a layup but Miller answered again with a 3 to put the Battlers back up by 10, 51-41.
The Panthers weren't done yet, though, and pulled within five, 56-51, with 5:56 left to play after Bosley scored again on a layup following a missed 3 by Alderson Broaddus.
But a minute later, Lucas Barker was called for block and Patrick Neel's blocked shot was ruled goaltending. It resulted in an old fashioned 3-point play for Tatum.
From there, the Alderson Broaddus lead stretched to double digits and KWC was never able to respond.
"We're not tough enough mentally, yet, to sit down and guard for 35 seconds," Osborne said. "(Alderson Broaddus) executed. They did exactly what they wanted to do. They got what they wanted…I'm fixing this."
While the Battlers couldn't seem to miss a shot, the Panthers struggled in that department. KWC was 21-of-52 (40.4 percent) from the field. On top of that, the Panthers didn't have the same success inside that they've had recently, being outscored in the paint, 36-22.
The Battlers led for pretty much the whole game. KWC's largest, and final, lead came when it led by a point just 1:27 into the game.
"I think you saw disciplined verses undisciplined," Osborne said.
As far as scoring went, Lonnie Hayes led KWC with 18 points but was just 5-of-15 shooting. Ken-Jah Bosley added 15 points.
Alderson Broaddus, on the other hand, had four scorers in double figures. Tylas Perkins led the way with 20 and Adam Kline posted a double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds.
The loss prevented Osborne from claiming his 500th career win as a head coach. He'll have another shot in a week at home against Trevecca Nazarene.
"We've got to bow our necks again," Osborne said of responding to Saturday's loss. "Nothing's dead. We've got to bow our necks again. We're hurt, but nothing's dead. We've got to get that much tougher in the next eight conference games."
