Hillsdale, Mich. - The Kentucky Wesleyan men's basketball team fell 93-89 in an overtime classic to the Hillsdale Chargers on Saturday afternoon.
Wesleyan is now 15-5 overall and 9-3 in the G-MAC, while the Chargers improved to 16-5 overall and 10-3 in the G-MAC.
It was an early back-and-forth battle between two of the G-MAC's leaders. Quentin Toles hit a step-back three right out of the gate in his return from injury, and Terrence Ringo Jr. quickly tallied six of his eight first half points off the bench as the score was tied at 19 after the first ten minutes.
Edward Jones Jr. continued his strong play with seven first half points to keep the Panthers right with the Chargers, but Hillsdale slowly began to build a lead. An 11-0 run that began with 5:25 left in the half helped create a 42-33 advantage at the break for the home team.
The Panthers went on a 20-9 run to begin the second half that gave them a 53-51 lead headed into the under-12 timeout, highlighted by two threes from Toles and three layups from Logan McIntire.
The score stayed close for the rest of the game, culminating in a two-point Panthers lead at 77-75 after more hot shooting from Toles. With just 40 seconds left, head coach Drew Cooper drew up a fantastic play that set the junior up for his fifth three of the half to give Wesleyan an 80-75 lead.
Hillsdale had the perfect response, converting a quick and-one and later, after a missed one-and-one opportunity by the Panthers, hitting a game-tying layup with just two seconds left to send the game into overtime.
Wesleyan had their own perfect response, as Jones Jr. and Toles hit a three each to begin the overtime period and put the Panthers up 86-80.
The Chargers received votes this week for a reason, and they just kept on coming. The home team reeled off an 8-1 run to take the lead at 88-87 with 1:58 to play, but Kennedy Miles drained a pull-up jumper to take the lead right back just twenty seconds later.
Hillsdale had one final game-winning response, hitting two free throws followed by a dagger three-pointer with 12 seconds left to put the game away.
Toles finished with 23 points on 8-14 shooting from the field and a staggering 7-10 from outside the arc while adding eight rebounds and four assists to his ledger.
Jones Jr. logged 16 points and six rebounds, and Ringo Jr. tallied a career-high 15 points with four rebounds and two blocked shots. Miles and McIntire rounded out the double-digit scorers, as the former had 13 points, three rebounds, and three assists and the latter put up 11 points and five rebounds.
The Panthers look to get back in the winning column on Thursday, February 6 against the Tiffin Dragons. Tipoff is set for 7:45 PM inside the Owensboro Sportscenter, with the women set to tip at 5:30 PM.
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