Box Score The Kentucky Wesleyan College men's basketball team continued to struggle with its defense as the Panthers fell 70-65 to Truman State in the KWC Holiday Tournament title game on Saturday at the Sportscenter.
KWC (4-3) shot 51 percent from the floor but allowed the Bulldogs (3-2) to shoot near 53 percent from the field -- including 60 percent during the first half.
Seth Jackson led Truman State with a season-high 29 points on six-of-seven shooting. He also shot one-for-one from long range and 16-of-18 from the free throw line. Reed Mells and Kyle Kanaskie added 11 points each.
""It just astonishes me that the guys that have been here and guys that have talent can come out here and be inconsistent," second-year KWC coach
Happy Osborne said of his squad's effort. "You've got to be ready to play. Defensively, we were awful in the first half."
Though the Panthers finished with a 30-18 rebounding advantage for the game, they gave up six more turnovers (13-7) than the Bulldogs. Truman State was also the aggressor for most of the contest, shooting 24-of-32 from the charity stripe while KWC was just nine-of-14.
It's just disappointing," Osborne continued. "You go outrebound somebody by 12, they shoot 18 more free throws than we do at home. We didn't move our feet. This is a team that's got to crowd. This was a tremendous opportunity for us."
The Panthers were led by
Ken-Jah Bosley's 24 points on nine-of-16 shooting.
Marcus Fillyaw and
Patrick Neel chippede in 11 points apiece.
"We've got guys that give tremendous effort," Osborne said. "It's got to be about us all the time. Part of that is what you learn along the way. I's a disappointing kiss to a good team. They were picked second in the GLVC, but it's a team that I think we can beat. Of course I think we should win them all."
Truman State took its largest lead of the game on Isaac Gardner's three-pointer for a 35-23 lead with 3:04 left in the first half but the Panthers cut the lead to 39-30 at the break following a three-pointer from the wing by Neel.
KWC used a 10-0 run early in the second-half to erase the deficit, taking a 46-45 lead on Bosley's three-pointer with 14:25 left to play. The Panthers took their largest of the game six minutes later on Bosley's corner three-pointer for 58-55 advantage, but KWC couldn't hold on for the victory.
The Bulldogs responded with 7-0 run over the next four minutes to retake the lead for good. The Panthers trailed 68-65 on their final possession, but Kanaskie intercepted Fillyaw's pass intended for Bosley and nailed both free throws to seal the win.
"We got behind, and we battled, battled, battled," Osborne said. "We didn't do a really good job of taking care of the ball. People that we count on to take care of the ball struggled with that. It's a disappointing loss, and some of that is on me.
"Now we go get in the league and we work our butts off in practice. I think it's one of those things, if you keep going back to work every day, you get better. That's what we've got to do."
All- KWC Holiday Tournament All-TeamMost Outstanding Player--Seth Jackson, Truman State
Ryan Sabin, Grand Valley State
Ifeanyichukwu Ude, KWC
Ken-Jah Bosley, KWC
Reed Mells, Truman State
Kyle Kanaskie, Truman State
