EVANSVILLE, IND - Playing in their second and final exhibition game of the season, the Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers impressed in a 74-64 loss at DI University of Evansville. Wesleyan led the Aces in points off turnovers (13-11), 2nd chance points (10-5), fast break points (10-7), points in the paint (36-22), and out-rebounded the taller Aces 36-34. Following his 29 point outburst against Kentucky, Jomel Boyd turned in an impressive 20 point - 12 rebound double-double against UE. 

The Aces jumped out to an early 9-0 lead before a Jomel Boyd three pointer stopped the run. Down 26-13 with 6:30 to go in the opening half, the Panthers closed on a 12-3 run. Ben Sisson had a big steal to cut the lead to 26-19, followed by two buckets by Wyatt Battaile and Boyd. Following an Aces three, Boyd closed out the half with a layup and the Panthers went into the break down just 29-25.

KWC opened up the second half by tying the game twice, once at 31-31 off a Boyd fast break layup, then 33-33 off a two free throws by Jordan Roland. After a UE three, Jamil Wilson hit a fastbreak jumper to make it a one point game, but that was as close as the Panthers would get. Evansville went on a quick 10-0 before an Antonio Thomas layup stopped the bleeding. The Panthers stayed within striking distance, cutting things to as close as seven with five minutes remaining, but they couldn't claw their way back and fell by the 10 point margin. 

Three pointers were the difference in the game, as Evansville was 12-24 from behind the arc, compared to just 4-18 for the Panthers. Evanville shot 46.9% from the floor while holding the Panthers to just 39%. 

Jomel Boyd led the Panthers with 20 points, followed by Wyatt Battaile with 16 and Ben Sisson with 12. Battaile blocked a career high three shots on the night, as the Panthers led the Aces 6-4 in that category. 

Head Coach Drew Cooper will have a lot of positives to look at after these two early season exhibition games, especially with the efforts of transfers Jomel Boyd, Antonio Thomas and Jordan Roland. 

The Panthers open the regular season next week as they head to St. Charles, Missouri on Friday, November 12th to take on Illinois Springfield at 5:30 p.m. CT. 

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