OWENSBORO, Ky. – Fatih Huyuk scored a career-high 28 points on 14-21 from the field to lead the Kentucky Wesleyan men's basketball team (7-4, 3-2 G-MAC) to an 87-81 triumph over Illinois Springfield Wednesday evening.
Huyuk also added 10 rebounds and five assists, notching his first double-double of the season.
The Prairie Stars (7-3, 4-0 GLVC) jumped out to a fast start inside the Sportscenter, leading by as much as nine over the first ten minutes, but Wesleyan fought back quickly.
The Panthers managed to tie the game at 27 on a Huyuk hook shot with just under seven minutes left in the half. From there, it was back-and-forth the rest of the way.
Huyuk closed the opening 20 minutes with eight of the Panthers' final ten points, including another hook shot with eight seconds left that sent Wesleyan into the break with a 40-39 lead.
LaVonte Harris continued his hot shooting with a three-pointer that began a 9-2 run coming out of halftime that led to a 49-41 advantage for the Panthers.
Wesleyan led by as much as 11 with just over ten minutes to play, but Illinois Springfield had plenty of fight left in them. The Prairie Stars cut their deficit to two multiple times, but the Panthers always had a timely response.
The first time UIS came within two, Armandas Plintauskas hit a jumper and Huyuk scored a layup to build the lead back to six. Later, with Illinois Springfield again within two at 70-68, Jorge Sanchez-Ramos drove for a layup and hit a three to increase the advantage back to seven.
Huyuk was unstoppable on Wednesday night, and that culminated with a post spin into a reverse baseline slam with under three minutes remaining that gave Wesleyan all the momentum.
The game got interesting in the waning minutes, particularly due to a four-point play for UIS, but the Panthers were able to hit enough of their late free throws to close out the 87-81 victory.
Plintauskas (13 points, four rebounds), Sanchez-Ramos (12 points, four assists), Caleb Mackrey (12 points, six rebounds), and Harris (11 points, six rebounds) joined Huyuk in double figures on the night.
Ke'Andre Jones had another impactful do-it-all game as well with six points, six rebounds, two assists, three blocked shots, and a steal.
Wesleyan is next set to battle IU Southeast on Friday, December 19, for their annual field trip day game. Tipoff is set for 11:00 AM and the game will be streamed live on FloCollege.
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