Coyotes cruise past Bethel 73-55
By: David Toelle, KWU Sports Information

Marcus Faubion dunks it during the first half of the Coyotes' 73-55 rout of Bethel

Kansas Wesleyan scored the first six points of the game, and never looked back as they cruised to a 73-55 win over Bethel on Saturday night at Muir Gym.

Todd Rambo gave Bethel its first points at the 17:01 mark in the first half, but the Coyotes responded, as Trey Sims gave Wesleyan a 19-2 lead with 13:07 left in the half.

Bethel would get within 13 with four straight points, but the Coyotes quickly pulled back out to a 17-point advantage as Marcus Faubion converted a steal, and Jeff Baron found Dupre Richardson to give the Coyotes a 23-6 lead with 8:29 left.

Baron would give the Coyotes their first 20-point lead with a three with 6:22 left. After Owen Kindall converted an old fashioned three-point play with 6:10 left, neither team could find the basket for the next minute and a half until Faubion poked a pass away from Rambo, that was picked up by Henry Rogers who tossed it downcourt to a wide-open Marcus Faubion for a two-handed slam to give the Coyotes a 31-11 lead with 4:32 left.

The Coyotes would lead by as many as 23 on a pair of Baron free throws with 1:11 left, and took at 39-18 lead into the half.

Both teams would trade a pair of scores to start the second half, before Bethel would hit six straight free throws to get within 15 with 17:35 left.

Josh Berry would score five straight points in a one-minute span to give Wesleyan its biggest lead of the night 52-28 with 13:22 left. Dustin Ketchum would get Bethel back within 19 with 12:16 left, and the Threshers would get as close as 16 with 9:03 to play on a pair of Owen Kindall free throws.

Sims would give the Coyotes another 23-point lead with 6:17 left, before Bethel would put together an 8-0 run to get within 15 at 65-50 with 4:05 to play. Cody Cole would again get the Threshers within 15 at 67-52 with 2:21 left, but the Coyotes would use a three by Chris Heard with 1:42 left as part of a 6-1 run to take a 20-point lead with 40.6 seconds left.

Rambo would hit a pair of free throws with 33.2 left to cap the scoring as the Coyotes swept the season series against the Threshers with the 73-55 win.

Baron would lead all scorers in the game with 18 points, and also pulled down nine rebounds for game high honors. Sims added 15, and Anthony Smith had 13 for the Coyotes who were 26-of-59 from the floor for 44.1 percent. Marcus Faubion would add nine points and eight rebounds for the Coyotes. The Coyotes dominated the boards, outrebounding Bethel 43-30.

Wesleyan (22-3, 15-1) clinched no worse than a share for the KCAC Championship tonight with the win. It marks the Coyotes’ first KCAC title since the 2000 season, when Wesleyan captured the KCAC crown and went on to win the NSCAA National Championship with a 25-9 record.

Bethel (11-15, 7-9) was led by Rambo’s 16 points, as he was the only Thresher to reach double figures on the night. Kindall would add nine as the Threshers were 16-of-46 from the floor for 34.8 percent. Over a third of Bethel’s points came at the foul line, as the Threshers were 21-of-30 at the line. Tyler Peachy and Brennan Commerford led Bethel with five rebounds each.

KWU finishes up the regular season with two road games at McPherson on Thursday and at Saint Mary on Saturday. A win over the Bulldogs will give the Coyotes the outright KCAC Championship.

-- KWU SI --