Box Score
The Kentucky Wesleyan College men's basketball team snapped its two-game skid with an 81-53 victory over visiting Lane College on Tuesday night at the Sportscenter behind a first half in which the Panthers held the Dragons to just 13 points.
The Panthers (3-2) held Lane to 4-of-22 shooting (18 percent) in the first half and 17-of-59 (29 percent) for the game, while KWC shot 25-of-51 (49 percent) from the field.
"I thought our first half, defensively, was pretty good," the second-year KWC coach said. "Again, we had trouble against the zone. It's something we've got to solve, because that's something that will keep coming. But I thought we played hard."
Lane scored the game's first basket at 19:32 and didn't make another field goal in the 13 minutes.
Ken-Jah Bosley led all scorers with 19 points, and Devin Langford added 16 points off the bench. Hikeem Stewart and Tre Boutilier chipped in 13 and 10, respectively.
Langford finished with a game-high 12 rebounds, and Boutilier reeled in eight boards to help KWC to a 44-34 overall rebounding advantage.
"I've got such high expectations of Dev," Osborne said. "Dev did rebound, 12 rebounds. That's good, we finally won a rebounding battle. We've just got to take this, get smarter and build off of it."
Marcus Fillyaw added a game-high seven assists, and Ifeanyichukwu Ude had six blocks off the bench.
Lane (0-3) was led by Donald Stewart's 15 points and five assists. Though the Dragons committed 21 turnovers in the game, they used a stingy second-half press and zone pressure to force KWC into 20 giveaways for the contest.
"We've got to be smarter," Osborne said, admitting his frustration with his team's unforced errors. "We've got to not get so caught up in the moment and know what we're doing. We've got to be able to perform under duress. We rep and we rep and we rep, but we've still got to be able to perform under duress. The day we can do that and we guard better, we'll be alright."
The victory wasn't the best measuring stick for the Panthers as they prepare to host this weekend's KWC Holiday Tournament, Osborne added, but it's better than a loss.
"Lane's got a ways to go," he said. "They've got a ways to go right now. They do have size, and they are aggravating (defensively). The second half, they hit shots better. This is a game that we should have won, and comfortably."
