OWENSBORO, KY - What. A. Night. Facing a Findlay team that was in desperate need of a win, the Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers, who were down for most of the game, showed a lot of grit in an 81-78 win over the visiting Oilers. Kennedy Miles, who has become one of coach Drew Cooper's most consistent players, had a career night, tallying 20 points, six assists, and five rebounds in the win. His clutch pull up three late in the fourth quarter gave Wesleyan a 79-78 lead, and broke the hearts of Findlay fans everywhere. 

With the win the Panthers move to 4-2 (1-0 G-MAC) while Findlay falls to 1-5 (0-2 G-MAC). 

Wesleyan got on the board first, as a dunk by Edward Jones Jr. and a three from Kaeveon Mitchell quickly put the Panthers up 5-0. Both teams played well early, and an Aleksa Rakic layup with 11:12 remaining in the half tied the game up at 18-18. Findlay then went on a 15-7 run, putting them up 33-25 with just over six minutes remaining in the opening half. The Panthers couldn't quite cut all the way into that deficit, but a Jones Jr. layup at the buzzer gave Wesleyan all the momentum heading into the locker room. 

The Panthers used that momentum to cut into the Oiler lead early, as Kennedy Miles and Jones Jr. hit back-to-back threes to make it just a 45-44 Findlay lead three minutes into the frame. The teams battled over the next 10 minutes, as any time the Panthers would get close to taking the lead, Findlay came back with big shots of their own. It wasn't until senior Kaeveon Mitchell hit back-to-back corner threes with just under five minutes remaining that Wesleyan finally got the lead back, 67-65. This opened up a flurry of threes, as Findlay hit one to put them up, then Logan McIntire answered with one of his own to give the home side the lead. On the very next possession, Findlay re-took the lead on a deep free from Andrew Owens, holding on to a 71-70 advantage at the 3:33 mark of the second half. Findlay made their last field goal with 2:27 left in the game, a three to give them a two-point lead. The Panthers answered with some solid free throw shooting, and that clutch three from Kennedy Miles. Alex Gray hit two big free throws down the stretch, and the Wesleyan defense forced an Oiler air ball on their last possession to secure the win. 

As stated earlier, Kennedy Miles filled up the stat sheet, going off for 20 points on 6-9 from the field and 5-7 from three, and added six assists, five rebounds, and three steals. Five Panthers finished in double figures, as Logan McIntire had 16, Kaeveon Mitchell with 14, Alex Gray with 13, and Edward Jones Jr. with 12. Gray led the team with seven assists, while Jones Jr. stuffed the stat sheet as well, tallying seven boards and five helpers to go along with his 12 points. 

A key to the Panther success was protecting the ball, as they committed just 10 turnovers on the night. 

Wesleyan shot it well on the night, going 25-51 (49%) from the field and 13-28 (46.4%) from three, including an incredible 8-12 (66.6%) in the second half. Wesleyan hit each of their final four three point attempts. Findlay shot it even better than the Panthers, going 29-54 (53.7%) from the floor and 14-28 (50%) from three. 

Free throws were the difference in the game, as Findlay was just 6-9, while Wesleyan manged to hit 18 of their 23 attempts. 

The Panthers look to go 2-0 in conference play next week when they travel to North Canton, Ohio, to take on the Walsh Cavaliers. Walsh has yet to lose a game this year and sit at #25 in the most recent NABC poll. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. CT.

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