Coyotes win third straight in 61-56 decision over McPherson
By: David Toelle, KWU Sports Information

Romero Hood drives in for a layup during the first half of Wesleyan's 61-56 win over McPherson

Kansas Wesleyan played without leading scorer Trey Sims, but turned to Eric Hammond as he poured in 15 points off the bench to lead the Coyotes to a 61-56 win over McPherson on Thursday night at Muir Gym.

The win keeps the Coyotes in the thick of a heated race in the Kansas Conference, as the Coyotes share a league best 10-3 record with Ottawa after the Braves knocked off Sterling 69-58.

Wesleyan led start to finish in the game, jumping out to a 17-9 lead with 10:14 to go on a three from Hammond.

McPherson answered back, cutting the Coyote lead in half when Shawn Young would score with 8:54 left, making it 17-13.

A Dane Baxa score, followed by a Romero Hood bucket put Wesleyan back up eight, 21-13 with 7:02 to go.

A three from Dan Erb with 1:37 left would get the Bulldogs back within five at 23-18, but Willie McCarty would send the Coyotes into the locker room with a 25-18 lead on a score just seven seconds left before the half.

Mychal Henderson scored the first four points of the second half for Wesleyan, as the Coyotes pushed their lead to double-digits at 29-18 with 18:18 to go.

McPherson (13-9, 7-6) worked its way back into it with six unanswered points to make it 29-24 with 15:46 to go. The Bulldogs would get no closer than five points the rest of the night.

Clay DuBois converted a Tony Boone pass to give Wesleyan a ten-point advantage at 42-32 with 9:51 to go, capping four straight points from the Coyotes answering Nick Augustine’s three that got McPherson within six with 11:28 to go.

Wesleyan (12-10, 10-3) would go up by as many as 12, the last time coming on a McCarty score with 7:28 left before the Bulldogs would make a final charge.

Back to back threes from Young and Tyler Stewart would get the Bulldogs within six with 6:14 to go, but the Coyotes would get four straight points from Hammond to regain a 53-43 lead with 5:26 left.

Mitch Arnett’s score with 2:43 left got McPherson back within five at 55-50, but four straight Coyotes points all from Hood got Wesleyan back up by nine, 59-50, with 31.9 seconds left.

Cody Dickerson and Stewart hit late threes for the Bulldogs, but Henderson’s score with 18 seconds left would give Wesleyan an eight-point lead before Stewart’s triple would cap the scoring.

Hammond’s 15 led four KWU players in double figures as Henderson added 14, and McCarty and Hood each had 12 for Wesleyan as the Coyotes shot 25-of-55 from the field for 45.5 percent, which including a 14-for-27 effort in the second half. Hood pulled down nine rebounds, and Boone had eight to go along with eight assists, as the Coyotes crushed the Bulldogs 39-24 on the boards.

Arnett led McPherson with 14, while Young and Dickerson added 11 each as the Bulldogs shot 22-of-53 from the field for 41.5 percent, and equaled Wesleyan’s 14-of-27 effort in the second half. Mark Johnson had six rebounds to lead the Bulldogs.

Wesleyan heads on the road for the first time in two weeks on Saturday, traveling to North Newton to take on Bethel at 7 p.m., inside Thresher Gym.  The Coyotes return home for a Valentine’s Day contest with Saint Mary before heading back on the road for two games at Sterling and Friends, before hosting the regular season finale on February 23 against Tabor.

-- KWU SI --