Coyotes survive scare from Saint Mary, win sixth straight
By: David Toelle, KWU Sports Information

It wasn’t a thing of beauty, but the no.13 ranked Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes overcame a two-point halftime deficit, and sent Saint Mary to their 17th loss of the season with a 58-46 win on Thursday night at Muir Gym.

Saint Mary (0-17, 0-8) controlled the tempo early, running time off the clock, and forcing the Coyotes to play defense. It paid off early for the Spires, as they took a 4-2 lead with 16:22 left on a bucket by Jonathon George.

Marcus Faubion tied things up with an emphatic dunk on a pass from Tony Boone, and the Coyotes regained the lead on a Jeff Baron basket with 14:26 left.

Tremaine Daltone would ignite a short Saint Mary run that gave the Spires a 8-6 lead, but Faubion would answer with a three to give Wesleyan the lead 9-8 with 12:40 left. Both teams would trade the lead back and forth until Saint Mary would go on a 13-5 run to take its biggest lead of the night at 25-18 with 2:51 left on a C.J. Zimmerlink three.

The Spires would again lead by seven before the Coyotes would use a 5-0 run, all by Faubion to end the half, and only trail by two at the break 27-25.

Faubion would tie things at 27 to start the second half, and Trey Sims would give Wesleyan its first lead since the 9:19 mark in the first half with a bucket with 18:53 left. Saint Mary would briefly regain the lead at the 15:05 mark on a Matt Weatherly free throw, but the Coyotes would rally, going on an 8-2 run to take a 37-32 lead with 9:48 left.

The Spires would get back within one, the last time at the 8:46 mark on a Winston Frazier free throw, but the Coyotes would put the game out of reach with an 11-1 run to take a 50-39 lead with 4:17 left.

The Coyotes (15-3, 8-1) would go six-for-six from the line in the last two and a half minutes to hold on for the 12 point win.

Faubion led all scorers in the game with 23 points, while Baron added 11 for the Coyotes who shot 18-of-51 from the field for 35.3 percent. Faubion would also lead Wesleyan with 11 rebounds, as he recorded his fourth double-double of the season, while Baron added seven boards helping the Coyotes win the rebounding battle 34-21. The Coyotes also excelled at the free throw line, a weak spot all season long, going 18-of-22 for 81.8 percent.

Saint Mary was led by George and Dalton with 12 each, as the Spires shot 51.5 percent from the field, on 17-of-33 shooting. Weatherly would lead the Spires with nine rebounds.

The Coyotes conclude their three game home stand on Saturday, as they host Ottawa. The Braves are the only KCAC team to score more than 60 points against the Coyotes this season, when the two teams went to overtime on December 4, with the Coyotes winning 90-87.

-- KWU SI --