Box Score
Kentucky Wesleyan never trailed against Davis & Elkins, but the Senators weren't an easy win by any means.
C.J. Blackwell scored a game-high 21 points, and the No. 15 Panthers did just enough to keep their conference foe at bay for a 84-78 victory on Thursday night at the Sportscenter.
KWC (22-3, 8-1 in G-MAC) opened the game on a 10-2 run, using quick hands to force turnovers and get out in transition for easy baskets. The Panthers extended their lead to 24-12 on a Jordan Jacks dunk with 10:53 left in the first half, but the Senators managed to hang around.
Kevin Simpson's layup just before the halftime buzzer cut the deficit to 39-34 for Davis & Elkins (10-14, 4-6).
However, the Panthers rebuilt their lead to 49-36 on a Marcus Fillyaw jumper three minutes into the second half and never allowed the Senators to truly get comfortable.
A surge in the final minutes allowed Davis & Elkins to cut the deficit to single digits, and Kevin Bracy-Davis drilled a 3-pointer that cut the lead to 78-74 with 22 seconds to play. It was too little too late, though, as KWC made enough free throws to keep it a two-possession game and hold off the Senators for the win.
"I thought we lost composure," Panthers coach Happy Osborne said. "We've got to rebound better, we've got to guard the 3 better. I'll take it, but we've got to play to win.
"That's our M.O. right now -- start but don't finish, and we have to finish. We've got to play freer, and we've got to play to win."
Davis & Elkins finished with a 43-42 rebounding edge while shooting 42 percent from the field and 7-of-24 from 3-point range. Bracy-Davis scored a team-high 20 points, and Kevin Simpson added 19 points. Aleksandar Vasiljevic added nine points and 12 rebounds.
"These guys have gotten better and better and better," Osborne said of the Senators, who had won four of five entering Thursday's game. "A team that I thought is better than Trevecca offensively. They played very, very well, they made 3s, and they rebounded. Our rebounding has to be better."
The Panthers shot 40.7 percent from the field and made 6-of-22 from beyond the arc, while also getting a big lift off the bench from Tamron Manning's 18 points. Ken-Jah Bosley finished with 13 points while battling illness, while Marcus Fillyaw added 12 points and Devin Langford notched his fourth double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
"Devin went to work, and Devin rebounded," Osborne said. "Shooting 1-for-8, people probably wouldn't like that. But 10 rebounds, I love that. He fought, and I thought we battled. Ken-Jah can't talk, that's how bad his throat is, but he battled. And Tamron is just getting better and better, and he's getting more confident."
Despite the wire-to-wire victory, Osborne continues to see room for improvement, especially as the Panthers look to remain on top of the G-MAC standings.
"We're not looking to make the extra pass quite as well as we were," he said. "That being said, we had 16 assists. We have to make the extra pass.
"And what we've got to do more than anything is get that spice back, that juice back, in terms of -- we've got to get out there, we've got to guard, and we've got to be a little bit more composed. And we've got to finish."
