Box Score
After watching an 11-point lead evaporate midway through the second half of Thursday night's game against Cedarville, Kentucky Wesleyan College guard Lonnie Hayes found himself with the ball in his hands and his team trailing by one with less than 10 minutes left in the game.
Instead of settling for outside jump shots against the Yellow Jackets' 2-3 zone defense, Hayes attacked the basket time and time again, scoring 16 of his game-high 35 points in the final eight minutes in lifting the Panthers to a 92-87 G-MAC victory at the Sportscenter for their seventh straight win.
Even when Hayes didn't score, the senior's relentless attack often resulted in free throws or an open look for a teammate.
"It was getting back to what I normally do," Hayes said. "Being aggressive, putting pressure on the other team — if I'm putting pressure on (the defense), then they have to help, and then I've got open teammates, and I've got confidence in my team to make shots."
Senior center Dominique Dawson added 22 points for KWC (17-7, 10-1 in G-MAC), while freshman guard Ken-Jah Bosley chipped in with 13.
The Yellow Jackets (5-16, 3-6) appeared to have the upper-hand down the stretch, largely in part to a team-high 31 points from junior guard Marcus Reinke, who knocked down 6-of-10 three-pointers. Lane Vander Hulst and Leighton Smith added 13 and 10, respectively.
As a team, Cedarville shot 11-of-25 from long range while KWC made just 3-of-10.
"I thought it was a war," Panthers coach Happy Osborne. "Everything at the end is going to be tough, and our guys know that. My hat's off to Cedarville, they shot and played great."
However, the Yellow Jackets' hot shooting was offset by KWC's continuous trips to the free-throw line, as the Panthers knocked down 37-of-47 from the charity stripe.
"We lead the nation in free throws made and free throws attempted," Osborne said. "Everything we do offensively is about attacking the basket."
Cedarville cut the lead to 90-87 on a layup by Austin Pickett with eight seconds left in the game, but Bosley's pair of free throws off of an intentional foul sealed the win for the Panthers.
Osborne said the key late in the game was staying positive in team huddles.
"I'm encouraging them defensively, we're calling different sets and talking about different plays and different things that they do, just trying to do anything we can to stop that momentum," Osborne said.
Even with the win, Osborne added, KWC doesn't have much time to celebrate. The Panthers have just one day off before they close their home schedule against Central State.
"We've got a lot of work to do," Osborne said. "We've got to find a way to guard Central State better than we guarded Cedarville.
We've got to roll up our sleeves and go to work. There's not a lot of time to pat people on the back and all that – we play again Saturday and we're playing for everything."
