Box Score
It wasn't easy, but it was nonetheless a critical mission accomplished for Kentucky Wesleyan's men's basketball team on Thursday night.
The Panthers turned back Davis & Elkins 73-67 in a Great Midwest Athletic Conference game in Elkins, W.Va. — extending their winning streak to nine games and setting up a winner-take-all conference championship matchup against Alderson Broaddus on Saturday afternoon in Philippi, W.Va.
"I thought we played well defensively in the first half," said KWC coach
Happy Osborne, whose club improved to 19-7 overall and 12-1 in the G-MAC. "We got 25 deflections as a team and Davis & Elkins scored 25 points.
"In the second half, it wasn't good enough. We got four deflections and they scored 42 points. There was a lack of intensity in the second half, and we simply can't have that on Saturday."
The Panthers' defense was key to building a 37-25 halftime advantage, and Wesleyan scored the first basket of the second half to extend its lead to 14 points.
But the Senators (11-13, 3-8) never stopped battling, and a conventional three-point conversion by leading scorer Devin Miller pulled the hosts within 49-46 with 11 minutes to play.
KWC maintained control of the game down the stretch, although a runner in the lane by Tivius Guthrie pulled Davis & Elkins within six points with 10 seconds to play. Lonnie Hayes answered with two free throws at 0:08, and the Panthers had notched their 18th victory in the last 20 games since Nov. 29.
Hayesscored 18 points and Ken-Jah Bosley added 16 points to pace the Panthers, who also got 12 points and nine rebounds from Dominique Dawson and 10 points and nine rebounds off the bench from Donovan Johnson.
"On a positive note, we finally out-rebounded somebody," Osborne said of the Panthers, who held a 36-29 edge on the glass.
KWC also turned the ball over only six times.
"Flat out, this was one of Lucas Barker's better games," Osborne said of his sophomore point guard, who dished a game-best four assists..
The Panthers shot 41 percent from the field (25-of-61) and overcame one of the Senators' best shooting games of the year (23-of-46). Davis & Elkins entered the contest shooting only 35 percent from the floor on the season.
Davis & Elkins was paced by Miller's game-best 19 points. Kevin Bracy-Davis scored 16 points and Juwon Strothers added 14.
On Saturday, the Panthers will face the only team they have lost to in their debut season in the G-MAC — Alderson Broaddus having defeated KWC 81-62 on Jan. 11. It also marked the Panthers' most recent defeat.
