OWENSBORO, Ky. – The Kentucky Wesleyan men's basketball team was defeated 68-56 by No. 8-ranked Missouri S&T Sunday afternoon inside the Owensboro Sportscenter.
Wesleyan fell to 1-1 with the loss, having defeated Indianapolis on Friday to open their season. The Miners improved to 1-0 to begin their 2025-26 campaign.
The Panthers built an early 10-3 lead to start the game, highlighted by two three-pointers and a layup from LaVonte Harris. The Miners then reeled off a 23-6 run to grab a 26-16 advantage with just under seven minutes to play in the first half.
Two Harris free throws put the Panthers within eight at halftime, 33-25.
Wesleyan continued to scrap and claw in the second half. The Panthers took the lead for the first time since their fast start after Armandas Plintauskas and Ke'Andre Jones hit back-to-back three pointers to put the home team up 40-39 heading into the under-12 media timeout.
Later, with the Panthers leading 42-41, S&T scored the next eight points to grab control back and would never trail again.
The key stretch of the late minutes came with Wesleyan down just four. KWC forced a turnover on the defensive end and had a two-on-one fastbreak, but Jorge Sanchez-Ramos and Jones couldn't connect on an alley-oop that would have made it a two-point game. The Miners then hit consecutive threes to put the game away.
Harris racked up 17 points and nine rebounds on the afternoon. Sanchez-Ramos wasn't far behind with 12 points and four assists, and Fatih Huyuk added nine points and nine rebounds.
Wesleyan is back home this Wednesday, November 19, as non-conference play continues against Saint Mary-of-the-Woods. Tipoff is set for 7:00 PM inside the historic Sportscenter and the game will be streamed live on FloCollege.
Visit kwcpanthers.com/give today to make a gift to Kentucky Wesleyan Athletics! Gifts can be directed to general athletics, our athletic endowment, or any of our 14 NCAA Division II programs.
Stay up to date on all your Panther news by following @KWCPanthers on X and Instagram and by liking the "Kentucky Wesleyan College Athletics" Facebook page. Also, the Panthers Mobile App is available on iTunes and Android featuring real-time news alerts, schedules, exclusive multimedia content, gameday details and more.
