Box Score
The Kentucky Wesleyan College men's basketball team refused to lose to Alderson Broaddus for a fourth straight time.
Following last year's 0-3 performance against their Great Midwest Athletic Conference rivals, the Panthers held the Battlers to just 13 points on 14 percent shooting in the second half en route to a 74-48 victory on Saturday afternoon at the Sportscenter.
Though the Panthers have nine players who weren't a part of last season's series, they knew what it meant to the players who were, as well as the KWC fanbase.
"Ken-Jah (Bosley) talked to me a lot about it this whole week about how they played them last year," said guard Marcus Fillyaw, who finished with 14 points, seven assists and five rebounds. "He was taking it kind of personally, so I took it upon myself to do the same, even though I wasn't here last year."
Bosley led the Panthers (15-5, 5-2 in G-MAC) with 18 points on 5-of-8 shooting, as KWC shot a blistering 58.3 percent (28-of-48) from the field and 61.5 percent (8-of-13) from 3-point range. Devin Langford added 16 points, and C.J. Blackwell chipped in 10 points.
"Devin started hot, got slow when he sat and took a while to get going again, but his second half was really good," said Panthers second-year coach Happy Osborne. "C.J. made a couple of big shots that got him going. Ken-Jah is Ken-Jah, something we're blessed to have, but don't lose sight of how much our bench really helped.
"I thought Patrick (Neel) battled, I thought (Ifeanyichukwu) Ude did well. Zay (Henderson) couldn't breathe without getting a foul, but he's been really good lately. We've got to keep going, though. It's a marathon, not a sprint, and our goals are still out there."
The Battlers (12-6, 5-2) were led by Malcolm Tatum's 17 points, while Ali Bilal added 12 points, but as a team they shot just 34 percent (16-of-47) from the floor and 25 percent (6-of-24) from beyond the arc.
Osborne credited his coaching staff with coming up with the effective defensive game plan.
"(Associate head coach) K.C. (Goodin) deserves a lot of credit, and Kyle (Benge), for the scouting report," he said. "Kyle watched them the first time, K.C. watched them the second time. That's where K.C. was Thursday night. The 2-2-1 (press) to 2-3 zone is something he thought would work. I listened to him, and he was dead on it. I'm lucky to have him, Brett (Miller) and Kyle."
The Panthers led 19-9 after the first eight minutes and looked poised to run away early, but Alderson Broaddus used a 20-5 run for a 35-32 lead in the last minute of the half. Fillyaw's 3-pointer with 12 seconds left tied the game at 35-35 entering halftime.
From there, KWC switched to its full-court pressure and zone defense, which allowed the Panthers to outscore the Battlers 39-13 in the second half and cruise to victory.
According to Fillyaw, the second-half effort helped spark the crowd, which in turn motivated the Panthers.
"We play off of our defense, and once we get stops, the crowd gets hyped and that's what does it for us," he said. "I haven't played in an atmosphere like that since I've been here, so it was fun to play in. That was motivating."
Osborne was also thankful for the crowd in attendance, which was able to attend Saturday's game for free with the donation of a canned good or $1.
"That was great for our fan base, and it's great that we were able to contribute to Street Relief -- what a good cause," he said. "I thank Steve Baker for saying this is something we need to do, and I thank our athletic director, Jim Askins, and our president, Bart Darrell, for doing it. Our program has tried to do some things to be associated with the homeless, and that's important to me, and honestly, a whole lot important than winning the ballgame."
