Coyote men hammer Bethel in KCAC Home Opener
By: David Toelle, KWU Sports Information

Mychal Henderson scored 29 points as the Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes routed the Bethel Threshers in Wesleyan’s KCAC home opener, 79-57, on Thursday night inside Muir Gymnasium.

The Coyotes also welcomed back to the court two of its top players, Trey Sims and Tony Boone who had missed the first two games back after Christmas Break due to eligibility issues.

DaRon Stafford got Wesleyan on the board first, knocking down a three, and Romero Hood would added a bucket to put Wesleyan up 5-2 with 19:15 to go in the first half.

Craig Dunback would then hit a three for Bethel to tie it at 5-all and Thomas Buckner would give the Threshers their first lead at the 16:05 mark with a bucket.

Boone would hit Hood with a pass to tie it up again, but Bethel would answer back with a bucket from Brody Grove to take a 9-7 lead with 15:43 left. That would be the last lead the Threshers would have all night.

Henderson would nail a three with 15:21 left, sparking a decisive 14-0 run over the next five minutes that would give the Coyotes a 21-9 lead with 10:07 to go.

Dunback would get Bethel within seven at 23-16 with 7:50 to go in the half, before the Coyotes used another huge 11-2 run, capped by a Henderson score to take a 34-18 lead with 3:20 to go in the half.

Bethel (4-10, 1-4) would get within 11 just before the half on a pair of free throws from Dakota Sorenson with 14 seconds left to send the teams into the break with the Coyotes leading 36-25.

An 8-0 Wesleyan run welcomed the teams out of halftime, pushing the Coyotes’ lead to 19, at 44-25 with 17:33 left on a three from Stafford on a pass from Eric Hammond.

Buckner would get the Threshers within 14 at the 15:33 mark, but Sims would convert a Boone miss, to spark a 12-3 Wesleyan run that would end any suspense of a Bethel comeback, giving the Coyotes their biggest lead of the night at 58-35 with 10:46 left.

Bethel would get back within 14 at 62-48 on a bucket from Sorenson. Wesleyan would get five straight points from Henderson to jump back out to a 19-point advantage with 7:08 left.

The Coyotes would clear the bench and get some playing time for the reserves late in the game. Milen Brown got his first field goal of the season with just under a minute left, capping the scoring for both teams and sending Wesleyan to a 79-57 win.

Henderson’s 29 points led all scorers in the game, while Stafford added 12 and Sims ten for Wesleyan (5-8, 3-1), who shot 32-of-68 from the field for 47.1 percent. Sims led the Coyotes with nine rebounds as both teams pulled down 39 boards on the night. Boone had six assists and Hood added four, and Hood also had four steals to lead the Coyotes.

Bethel was led by Dunback’s 12 points, while Buckner added 11 and Matt Regier added ten to go along with ten rebounds in his first career start for the Threshers. Cody Cole and Sorenson each had six rebounds for Bethel. The Threshers shot 17-of-52 from the field for 32.7 percent, including just 4-of-20 from long range.

Wesleyan heads to Leavenworth to play Saint Mary on Saturday at 7 p.m., before returning home for two straight at home starting next Wednesday against Sterling and against Friends on Saturday inside Muir Gym.

-- KWU SI --