Box Score With seven minutes left in the first half, Kentucky Wesleyan coach Happy Osborne yelled out to his point guard from the sideline.
"Filly, how are you feeling?" the third-year Panthers coach asked Marcus Fillyaw.
"I'm good!" he yelled back.
Osborne then called out a play to his team, which resulted in Fillyaw coming off a screen to get open and draining a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer from the corner.
Fillyaw wasn't the only Panther feeling good, though. The sentiment was team-wide for No. 15 KWC, which rolled to a 67-42 win over conference rival Alderson Broaddus in front of a rowdy crowd Saturday at the Sportscenter and cemented itself as the No. 1 seed in the G-MAC Tournament -- which, as a result, will be held in Owensboro early next month.
"We've had to go to Alderson Broaddus the last two years for the conference tournament, and that's a tough place to play," Panthers assistant coach Brett Miller said. "If we can get Owensboro to come out the way they have the last couple of games and pack the house, it means all the world for our guys."
After battling to a 13-13 tie in the first eight minutes of the game, KWC (23-3, 9-1 in G-MAC) closed the first half on a massive 28-8 run -- including Fillyaw's long shot to go ahead 27-15 -- for a 20-point halftime advantage. The lead grew to as many as 30 points in the second half, and the Battlers never got within 25 the rest of the way.
Miller credited the Panthers' defense, which forced 21 turnovers that led to 25 points, for setting the tone early.
"We've said all along that it's all about our defensive effort," he said. "We came out and did a lot of great things as far as getting after the ball, and our guys really finished a lot of things today. It was really, really helpful just to get after them defensively.
"Every time we bring that defensive effort, that's what's really important, and our guys did a heck of a job just going out there. It's a big surprise as far as the point spread, but at the same time all our guys -- every loose ball was ours, every rebound was ours, getting into the passing lanes -- everything we did was really good defensively."
Seniors C.J. Blackwell (15 points), Fillyaw (13 points, 3-of-5 from 3, three steals) and Devin Langford (10 points, five rebounds) led the way offensively for KWC, which shot 43.3 percent from the field and 5-of-16 from beyond the arc.
The Battlers (17-8, 8-3) were led by Thylas Perkins, who scored nine points on just 4-of-14 shooting and had five turnovers. As a team, Alderson Broaddus made 40 percent from the field and 4-of-14 from 3-point range but were outmatched by the Panthers in paint scoring (36-26), points off turnovers (25-7), second-chance opportunities (10-3), steals (13-0), assists (12-6) and fastbreak scoring (19-5).
Saturday's contest also served as the Panthers' regular-season home finale. The victory was the eighth in a row for KWC and capped off a perfect 17-0 regular-season home record with the opportunity to extend that mark into the postseason.
"It's always good for any of our seniors to go out on a win like this," Miller said. "It's even better when they can come back here to the Sportscenter. Our home record this year has been incredible, and a lot of that is because of the atmosphere that we have here."
KWC still has two conference road games against Ohio Valley and Salem International to close the regular season, but the Panthers won't have long to celebrate before getting back to work.
"It's like reading a book right now," Blackwell said. "This is what we've been working for and playing towards. It's a great feeling. This is why all the seniors came here. Winning was everybody's reason, and when I talked to the guys before the season even started, that was a common goal.
"I'm just ready for the next game. It's one day at a time, and I'm ready for the next one. It feels great, but I'm ready to move on."
