Surging KWC rallies past Walsh

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The Kentucky Wesleyan College men’s basketball team regrouped after a dismal first half, and point guard Kennedy Miles scored 14 of his team-high 16 points after intermission to lead the Panthers to a 66-61 comeback win over league foe Walsh on Saturday at the Sportscenter.

Wesleyan (10-2, 4-0 G-MAC), which won its 10th straight regular-season game, had to overcome a 29-20 halftime deficit after shooting only 27.6% from the field in the opening 20 minutes.

KWC head coach Drew Cooper chalked up his team’s early struggles to a poor practice on Friday.

“Our guys know that we didn’t just show up like this,” he said, “and it’s on me because we weren’t ready to play, but at the same time, this was the exact way we practiced. Practice was a disaster yesterday; it was a debacle, so there’s a lot to it.

“This morning was a little bit better, but as unfortunate as it was just to watch that first half — really unacceptable — I can’t say that I was surprised. … I’m glad we did enough to win against a team that we’ve got to turn around and play again next Saturday.”

Walsh (5-6, 1-4) wasted little time out of the gate, zipping to a 15-4 lead within the first six minutes of the contest as the Panthers made only two of their first eight shots from the field. Consecutive buckets by Eddy Jones Jr. and Alex Gray drew Wesleyan to within five points with 8:23 left before halftime, but Ayden Carter scored six points in an 8-2 burst that pushed Walsh to a 27-16 advantage with 2:54 remaining in the first half.

A pair of free throws from Quentin Toles, who played his freshman and sophomore seasons at Walsh, brought Wesleyan to within nine points at intermission.

The first 10 minutes of the second half were all Panthers.

Jones scored nine points in a 16-4 spurt, including a jumper with 14:03 remaining that gave KWC its first lead of the game at 36-35. The Cavaliers regained the lead momentarily after a jumper from Carter, but another basket from Jones with 12:31 left put…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/surging-kwc-rallies-past-walsh-101600796.html

Author : Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.

Publish date : 2025-01-05 10:16:00

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