Box Score
The Kentucky Wesleyan College men's basketball team will return home from its two-game road trip with a pair of victories after notching a 73-59 win over Wayne State in the G-MAC/GLIAC Challenge on Saturday in Tiffin, Ohio.
The Panthers saw balanced scoring across the board as Tre Boutilier, Hikeem Stewart and Patrick Neel scored 12 points each to lead KWC. Boutilier also reeled in a game-high 10 rebounds. Basil Deveaux and Ken-Jah Bosley chipped in nine points apiece, Devin Lanford had eight, Marcus Fillyaw scored seven and C.J. Blackwell added four.
KWC held a 28-17 advantage in turnovers, and the Panthers scored 37 points off of Wayne State's errors.
According to KWC coach Happy Osborne, the key to the victory was solid effort from his whole team, even if a few players struggled.
"It wasn't C.J.'s best night, it wasn't Dev's best night, but we need those two guys" he said. "Hikeem bounced back, Basil bounced back, Tre had back-to-back good ones. Ken-Jah was good, he can be better.
"At the end of the day, we're 2-0. There are nine new players, and it will take some time, but I prefer winning while it takes time."
KWC closed out the first half on a 10-2 run for a 36-29 advantage at the break.
The Warriors cut the lead to 40-36 on a Toma jump shot five minutes into the second half, but the Panthers pulled away for good with a 9-0 run, capped off by Langford's layup with 11:15 left to play. KWC took its biggest lead of the game two minutes later on a pair of back-to-back 3-pointers by Stewart to put the Panthers up 58-41.
"I'll take determination over frustration, positive over negative," Osborne said. "Hakim got down last night and brought it in here today, but he battled through it."
Though Osborne is still dealing with lineup changes and a deep bench, the second-year KWC coach said he has no problem playing 11 players, as long as "everybody's grinding." Osborne pointed out an example in the performance he got off the bench from Neel, who shot 4-for-5 from the floor, including 1-for-1 from three and 3-for-3 from the free-throw line. The senior also had six rebounds.
"As long as everybody's working, I feel we can go 11 deep," he said. "Patrick Neel was big when we needed him to be big, as always. He's a gutty, fighting kid, just a kid you love to coach and love to be around."
Osborne also noted Boutilier's 6-of-14 shooting performance and double-digit rebounds.
"What he's not known for is shooting," Osborne said. "He's always been able to get in the lane. What impressed me was his offensive rebounding. I thought he did a nice job of getting into the lane and really using his length."
KWC will return to action in its home-opener on Wednesday against Northwood.
