SAINT LOUIS, MO - Drew Cooper and the Kentucky Wesleyan Men's Basketball team opened up their 2023 campaign with a matchup against the Saint Louis Billikens. The Panthers put on a good showing, keeping it close throughout before eventually falling by a score of 85-75. Borja Fernandez was the best player on the court tonight, leading all scorers with 22 points on 9-14 shooting, including 2-4 from three. 

Both teams struggled from the floor to open the game, as the teams combined to start 0-5 before senior Kaeveon Mitchell hit a pullup jumper to give the game it's first points. Saint Louis found themselves up 13-6 before Logan McIntire hit a three, Borja Fernandez made a layup, and Jake Evans sliced through the paint to make it a 15-13 SLU lead with 11:02 remaining in the half. Just a few minutes later, NaVuan Peterson broke out for a fast break dunk, putting Wesleyan up 27-26 on their DI foes. After an Alex Gray bucket tied the game at 31-31 with 3:57 left in the half, the Billikens went on a 9-0 run to quickly take a 39-31 lead. Wesleyan used threes from Mitchell and Fernandez to claw their way back, and the Panthers went into the break down 44-39. 

The teams went back-and-forth to open the second half, with a Fares Remouche bucket making it a 51-45 Billiken lead five minutes into the half. Saint Louis extended their lead to double digits with an 8-4 run, eventually making it 62-51 before an Aleksa Rakic and-1 cut it back down to single digits with 10:54 remaining in the contest. SLU kept the Panthers at bay the rest of the game, and eventually took the contest by ten. 

As stated earlier, Borja Fernandez balled out, scoring 22 points in the game. The only other double-digit scorer for the Panthers was Kaeveon Mitchell, who notched 15 points on 6-11 shooting and 3-7 from three. Fares Remouche led with six boards, followed Alex Gray and NaVuan Peterson with five. Peterson and Jake Evans each dished out four assists. 

Wesleyan shot 30-69 (43.5%) from the field and 9-30 (30%) from three, while SLU went 28-53 (52.8%) from the field and 7-22 (31.8%) from behind the arc. Free throws were the difference in the contest, as Wesleyan went 6-7 from the charity stripe, compared to 22-28 from the home team. 

Wesleyan will take part in the second exhibition of the season next week Monday when they travel to Louisville to take on the Louisville Cardinals. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT at the KFC YUM Center.

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