Men’s Basketball drops season opener to Ottawa 75-72
By: David Toelle, KWU Sports Information

OTTAWA – Romero Hood scored 21 points in the first half, but only had two in the second half as Kansas Wesleyan dropped its season opener to Ottawa 75-72 on Thursday night at Wilson Fieldhouse.

DaRon Stafford opened the game with a three to put the Coyotes up, as they held a lead until the 17:19 mark of the first half when David Birch would score to put the Braves up 9-8.

The Coyotes would grab the lead back on a bucket by Willie McCarty with 16:30 left, and would not relinquish the lead again until Clint Brightman would score with 14:36 left in the half to put Ottawa up 15-13.

Hood would score on Wesleyan’s next possession to tie things up, but a Birch free throw would give the Braves another lead at 16-15.

After Wesleyan would go up 26-20 on an 11-4, Ottawa would respond and cut the lead to three at the 6:32 mark on a pair of Birch free throws. Hood would answer back with a three, as he scored 11 straight points for the Coyotes to push the Wesleyan lead out to 11, at 41-30 with 3:56 to go in the half.

Ottawa (6-3, 1-0) would answer, scoring the final ten points of the half to send both teams to the locker room with the score 41-40 in favor of the Coyotes.

A breakaway dunk by Clint Bones would give Ottawa its first lead of the second half with 16:44 left, but the Coyotes would hang with the Braves, taking the lead back with 14:57 to go on a basket by Trey Sims.

Bones would score a putback to tie things up at 51, sparking a decisive 16-4 Ottawa run that would see the Braves take a ten-point cushion 65-55 with 6:45 left.

Wesleyan (2-5, 0-1) would not fade away, chipping away at the lead, getting as close as three with 7.9 seconds left.

Birch would miss the front end of a bonus free throw chance, and Sims would go for the game-tying three from the top of the key, only to find front iron as time expired giving Ottawa the three-point win 75-72.

The Coyotes were led by Sims with 25 points, while Hood added 23. Wesleyan was 28-of-71 from the floor for 39.4 percent, but were 9-of-21 from three point range for 42.9 percent. Willie McCarty led the way on the boards with seven rebounds, while Mychal Henderson and Hood each added five to help the Coyotes outrebound Ottawa 38-30.

Ottawa was led by Birch with 22, as the Braves sizzled from the field, going 27-of-48 for 56.3 percent. The Braves also doubled up the Coyotes on free throws, going 16-for-22, while Wesleyan was just 7-of-11. Brightman led the Braves with six rebounds.

The Coyotes are back on the road on Saturday to face arch-rival Bethany. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. at Hahn Gym in Lindsborg.

-- KWU SI --