Game notes
Kentucky Wesleyan College need a little help to earn the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye in next week's G-MAC tournament.
First, however, the Panthers need to take care of business themselves in the Sportscenter on Saturday when they host Ohio Valley in their regular season finale.
All that the Panthers can control is the Senior Day matchup with Ohio Valley, which tips off at 3:15 p.m.
"We need all the people we can get Saturday," KWC coach Happy Osborne said. "That's to give us the opportunity to be second (in the G-MAC), the opportunity for 21 wins, and it's Senior Day. We need to get our seniors out right."
The Panthers (20-7, 9-4) — who will honor seniors Hikeem Stewart, Patrick Neel and Ifeanyichukwu Ude before the game — have won two straight and four of their last five. KWC defeated Ohio Valley 74-71 in its first conference game of the season Dec. 4 in Vienna, West Virginia, thanks to a 41-point outburst from Panthers forward C.J. Blackwell.
The 6-foot-5 Blackwell, who averages 12.5 points and 5.4 rebounds per game, is expected to start Saturday along with 6-1 sophomore guard Ken-Jah Bosley (17.8 ppg, 3.3 rpg), 6-5 junior forward Tre Boutilier (5.3 ppg, 3.7 rpg), 6-1 junior guard Marcus Fillyaw (7.7 ppg, 2.7 rpg) and Stewart (3.8 ppg, 1.5 rpg).
Ohio Valley (9-14, 6-7) is led by G-MAC leading scorer Darryl Walker, a junior guard who averages 18.5 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. Other Fighting Scots expected to start include 5-9 junior guard Markese Allen (13.6 ppg, 3.3 rpg), 6-8 junior center Robert Smelser (12.0 ppg, 7.2 rpg), 6-4 junior guard David Sinickas (7.9 ppg, 2.5 rpg) and 6-5 junior forward Povilas Dambrauskas (3.9 ppg, 4.4 rpg).
"Ohio Valley is very good, a team that we beat at their place," Osborne said. "They've shown they can go in and win. I don't expect anything easy. They're hard to guard, they're athletic, they're thin but they're quick. We've got our hands full.
"We've got to guard their tails. We need to keep them in front of us, take them out of transition. They've got the leading scorer in the conference, Darrell Walker, we've got to do a good job there, and we've got to guard the 3."
Alderson Broaddus University has already locked up the conference's top seed and will host next week's G-MAC tournament.
If KWC secures the No. 2 seed, the Panthers will receive a first-round bye and an automatic spot in the semifinals. A No. 3 seed would mean KWC would have to win three games in three days to capture the G-MAC title.
