Box Score After leading by just one point at halftime, a strong second half on both ends of the floor helped the Kentucky Wesleyan College men's basketball team pull away for a 78-65 victory over King University on Saturday at the Owensboro Sportscenter.
The Panthers held the quick-shooting Tornado to just 29.6 percent from the floor after intermission, resulting in a 37.3-percent clip for the game. Taking most of its shots from the outside and in transition, King finished 11-for-36 (30.6 percent) from 3-point range.
Meanwhile, KWC converted on 52 percent of its shots after the break as the Panthers went on to claim what coach Happy Osborne called "a great team win."
"When you hold them to 65 (points), your defense is pretty good," the third-year KWC coach said. "They really, really shoot the ball. I think they'll do really well in their league. They were ranked No. 14 a couple of weeks ago and were No. 7 in the poll before that, and they beat (current No. 11) Lincoln Memorial.
"For us, a lot of people helped today. I thought it was a tremendous team effort."
Ken-Jah Bosley led the Panthers (11-2) with a game-best 22 points on 7-of-15 shooting. Jordan Jacks finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds, including seven points and seven rebounds in the second half after leaving the floor late in the first half with a knee injury. He later returned at the 16-minute mark of the second half with a brace on his knee.
"I thought Devin really got on the glass in the second half," Osborne said. "He helped us so much. I thought C.J. rebounded better than he has all year. I thought Fillyaw was in control, five-to-two (assist-to-turnover ratio) is good. I thought Jordan Jacks showed tremendous guts coming back, and we needed that. The last thing we need is to be without Marcus Fuggins and without Jacks.
"I thought Tamron was good, but he still needs to take care of the ball better (four turnovers). I thought Basil Deveaux sparked us, too. Jermaine got in there and does what Jermaine has to do — he battled and made some big-time hustle plays."
The Tornado (8-3) took a four-point lead on a CJ Good 3-pointer just two minutes into the second half, but KWC responded with a 16-2 run over the next five minutes for a 54-44 advantage.
King answered with a 10-2 run of its own, capped off by a Hunter LeVeau 3-pointer that the cut the lead to 56-54 with 10 minutes left in the game. However, the Panthers pushed ahead by double digits once again, using an 8-0 run to extend their lead.
KWC didn't allow King to get within six points again for the remainder of the contest.
LeVeau finished with 21 points on 8-of-20 shooting and 3-of-13 from long range for the Tornado. Good chipped in 15 points on 5-of-12 shooting from beyond the arc, while Mikquell Jackson and Mack Owens each chipped in 10 points.
"(At halftime) we switched defensively with a couple of things," said Osborne, whose Panthers allowed King to shoot 43.8 percent in the first half. "I think we were just sound in the second half. We played very solid."What we wanted to do was not give up corner 3s. More than anything, we wanted to play our tempo and not their tempo. Our tempo is to attack, but not shoot the first available shot. Any time we blew it out to eight or nine points and they came back, we were suckered in a little bit, but I thought our guys showed tremendous composure. I'll take it."
Fuggins to be evaluated Monday
According to KWC coach Happy Osborne, senior center Marcus Fuggins will have his shin evaluated by a doctor on Monday to determine the extent of an injury that has kept him out of action for more than a month.
The 6-foot-9, 260-pounder last played on Nov. 28, 2015, against Michigan Tech.
Osborne originally thought Fuggins would be back by mid-January, but Monday's evaluation will give a better indication.
"We're just praying for some good news," Osborne said. "We really need him back soon."
