Box Score
C.J. Blackwell stepped up when the Kentucky Wesleyan College men's basketball team needed it most.
The 6-foot-5 junior scored a career-high 41 points off the bench in lifting the Panthers to a 74-71 win over G-MAC foe Ohio Valley on Thursday in Vienna, West Virginia, giving KWC a solid start on its two-game conference road trip.
Blackwell connected on 15-of-18 shots from the floor and 6-of-7 from 3-point range, including the game-tying shot from beyond the arc with 39 seconds left in the game. After stealing the ball on the next possession, Blackwell sank a pair of free throws with 11 seconds remaining to give the Panthers (5-3, 1-0 in G-MAC) the lead and eventual victory.
"I'm a big believer in that you don't quit on people," KWC coach Happy Osborne said of Blackwell, who scored 20 points in the Panthers' season-opener but averaged just 3.5 points per game since. "It hasn't been an easy two or three weeks for him. Tonight was an example of what he can be. When we started this thing out, he's a young man we knew we'd count on heavily."
Blackwell also had six rebounds and four steals, and sophomore Ken-Jah Bosley added 11 points after being hospitalized for dehydration earlier in the week.
As a team, the Panthers shot 51 percent from the floor, while Ohio Valley finished at a 49 percent clip.
"We've got a chance to be so good, but we've got to get more consistent and get more solid," Osborne said. "I'm not upset
with this victory at all. We gutted this one out."
Robert Smelser led the Fighting Scots (0-4, 0-1) with 19 points on 6-of-9 shooting, while Darryl Walker finished with 17 points. Markese Allen and David Sinickas added 13 and 12, respectively, but Allen committed 12 turnovers in the loss.
"To get out of here with a win is good," Osborne said. "I thought Ohio Valley was great, they played lights-out. Their guards took us on the drive a little bit, but there was a stretch where we really clamped down defensively. Just to get the win and be 1-0 in the league, I'm grateful for that."
The Panthers trailed by 10 points after a Sinickas 3-pointer with 6:10 left in the first half, but KWC closed the half on a 13-2 run -- including seven straight points by Blackwell -- for a 34-33 advantage at the break.
The Fighting Scots responded after halftime with a 12-0 run to push the lead back to double-digits. Trailing 45-33, KWC used a 15-2 rally to tie and then take the lead on a pair of Hikeem Stewart free throws.
KWC never led by more than one point until the final second.
"I'm so thankful that the kids hung in there and kept battling," Osborne said. "We really, really, really needed it.
"My hat's off to the guys to keep fighting. What we've got to do is get so we're not in that situation. It's one step at a time, and I'll take it. That's what it takes. If the day ever comes wh
