COLUMBUS, OH - It wasn't easy, but the Kentucky Wesleyan Men's Basketball pulled out a big 59-58 win over Ohio Dominican on Thursday night. While the standings aren't final yet, this win secured a place in the G-MAC playoffs for the Panthers.
Jordan Roland, who notched his 1000th career DII point tonight (one year at Notre Dame (Oh.), two years at Wesleyan), clutched up over the final few minutes, scoring eight of the Panther's final 10 points to secure the win.
Wesleyan, who's winning streak now sits at four, moves to 15-12 (11-8 G-MAC). Ohio Dominican drops to 9-17 (5-14 G-MAC).
Kentucky Wesleyan, who has now won seven straight over the Panthers from the north, came out hot, as buckets from
Jordan Roland,
Ben Sisson, and
Kennedy Miles fueled a 12-0 run to push their lead to 18-7 with 11 minutes remaining in the half. An and-1 from
Borja Fernandez extended Wesleyan's lead to 21-11, and Sisson continued the push with another layup in the paint. Ohio Dominican didn't go down quietly, as they cut Wesleyan's lead to just 27-25 with 4:45 remaining. Sisson then quieted the ODU crowd with six straight points on back-to-back-to-back possessions, which was followed by a
JoMel Boyd fast break layup. That layup with a minute remaining was the last bucket of the half, and KWC went into the locker room leading 35-26.
The purple Panthers held their lead early in the second half thanks to more buckets from Roland and Sisson, but Ohio Dominican slowly but surely crept back in it. Over the course of 10 minutes, ODU went on a 23-6 run, eventually taking a 51-46 lead with 5:32 remaining. Backs against the wall, Wesleyan got a huge three from Miles to cut the lead to two, which was then followed by a Roland and-1 to give them the lead. After an ODU layup, Roland sliced through the paint and scored hit second and-1 to put Wesleyan ahead by two. Another Sisson layup put the Panthers up by four, and Roland scored another driving layup with a minute left to give KWC a 59-56 advantage. ODU hit two free throws in the final minute, but the Wesleyan defense held strong, not allowing Ohio Dominican to get a shot off in the closing seconds to secure the win.
Kentucky Wesleyan shot 24-57 (42.1%) from the field and 5-24 (20.8%) from three. Ohio Dominican shot 22-54 (40.7%) from the field and 6-22 (27.3%) from behind the arc. Wesleyan outscored ODU 38-24 in paint points, which was the difference in the game.
Jordan Roland led the way with 21 points on 8-15 shooting, including 3-8 from three.
Ben Sisson had a monster night, scoring 18 points on 9-10 shooting and hauling in a career high 16 rebounds. That marks the sixth double-double of the season for Sisson, the most since Mohamed Abu Arisha tallied six in 2018-19.
Antonio Thomas dished out three assists on the night, while
Kennedy Miles and
Jordan Roland each helped out with two steals.
With Kentucky Wesleyan, Tiffin, and Lake Erie all sitting at 11-8 in the conference, it is still up in the air on who will finish in fourth and host a conference playoff game. A win over Cedarville by the Panthers and a Tiffin loss to Ohio Dominican would go a long way to securing a home game on Tuesday for the Wesleyan. Be sure to catch the Panther's final game of the regular season on Saturday as they take on Cedarville at 3:15 p.m. CT.
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