Jones, Panthers rout Hillsdale – Yahoo Sports

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Eddy Jones Jr. scored a game-best 25 points, grabbed five rebounds, blocked two shots and swiped two steals to power the Kentucky Wesleyan College men’s basketball team to a wire-to-wire 79-58 win over Hillsdale on Saturday at the Sportscenter.

Jones, who played all but two minutes in the victory, shot 9-of-12 from the field, 3-of-4 from the 3-point line and 4-of-5 at the foul stripe as the Panthers (17-5, 11-3 G-MAC) bounced back from last week’s narrow loss at Hillsdale.

“That first half was as first class of a half that I’ve seen Eddy play,” said Drew Cooper, who also earned his 100th victory as KWC’s head coach. “Given the magnitude of the game, to step up and have him make the plays that he made over and over and over again — it should have been very rewarding for Eddy to get out here and play the way he played.”

KWC shot just 38.8% from the field in the first half but offset that mark with 6-of-12 shooting from beyond the arc. Kennedy Miles knocked down a 3-pointer with 3:07 left in the first half to cap off a 13-4 run, as the Panthers carried a 36-26 lead into halftime. A layup from Charles Woodhams trimmed Hillsdale’s deficit to six points early in the second half, but a 3 from Jones sparked Wesleyan over the next six minutes. The Panthers scored 18 of the following 27 points to seize a 58-40 advantage with 11:21 remaining.

Joe Reuter’s 3 brought the Chargers to within 13 points with 9:03 left, but an 8-0 run extended Wesleyan’s lead to 66-45 less than two minutes later. Hillsdale didn’t get any closer than 18 points for the remainder of the contest.

Cooper pointed to a theme his team followed throughout the game.

“All day, the next possession, I don’t care what — we’re down six,” he said of his message to the Panthers. “I thought our guys really rallied behind that. When we got up to a 12-, 13-point lead, we’re down six, and we were able to spread it out a little bit.

“Hillsdale’s a very good team. They’re going to be able…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/jones-panthers-rout-hillsdale-101600049.html

Author : Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.

Publish date : 2025-02-09 10:16:00

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