Coyote men dispatch Southwestern 70-55
By: David Toelle, KWU Sports Information

There was no need for any heroic 35-foot running three point shots at the buzzer tonight. Kansas Wesleyan put together a solid game on both ends of the floor as the Coyotes defeated Southwestern 70-55 on Saturday night at Muir Gym.

The win completes the season sweep of the Moundbuilders for the Coyotes, and keeps them in a two-way tie for first, sharing a 9-3 record in KCAC play with Sterling, who picked up a 69-56 win over Friends.

Wesleyan (11-10, 9-3) led wire to wire in the game, jumping out to an early 5-0 lead on a three from Trey Sims and a bucket from Romero Hood with 19 minutes left in the first half.

The Coyotes held the five point advantage until the 14:18 mark with Justin Diggles hit a pair of free throws for Southwestern, sparking what would turn out to be a 7-2 run to tie things up  at 13-all with 11:27 to go on a three from Chris Bossio.

Southwestern would tie it up two more times, the last coming on a Trey Merrifield bucket with 8:33 left at 18-all.

That’s when the Coyotes would take over. Back to back triples from Trey Sims pushed Wesleyan’s lead out to 24-18 with 6:49 left. Southwestern got back within two at 24-22 before the Coyotes would close the half on a 7-0 run to take a 31-22 lead at the buzzer on a tip in by Thursday night’s hero Tony Boone.

David King would score the first points of the second half for Southwestern, but Wesleyan used five straight points to take its biggest lead of the game at that point of 12 with 18:02 to go at 36-24 on a three from Mychal Henderson.

A 10-2 Southwestern run capped by Rodney Jackson’s score with 12:36 left got the Moundbuilders back within four at 38-34, but the Coyotes would use a 14-6 run to take a 52-40 lead with 9:13 to go on another triple from Henderson, who finished the night with 18 points.

Willie McCarty gave Wesleyan a 57-43 lead with 6:09 left before the Moundbuilders would get back within eight on a three from Justin Diggles with 3:10 to go at 57-49.

Another Henderson triple put the Coyotes up 11 with 2:14 left as the Coyotes held off Southwestern for the 70-55 win.

Frustration got the better part of Southwestern (12-9, 7-4) at the close of the game as Sheldon Brown was ejected from the game with 23.7 seconds left after going after a Wesleyan player after the Coyotes subbed in some younger players to finish the game.

Brian Crittenden’s free throws would cap ten straight at the line for Wesleyan to close out the game.

Henderson and Sims would share top scoring honors with 18 each,  while Hood added 13 for the Coyotes as they were 23-of-53 from the line for 43.4 percent, including a nice 10-of-22 from long range for 45.5 percent led by Henderson’s 6-for-9 performance from three. Henderson had eight rebounds to lead the Coyotes, while McCarty had six as did Boone to go along with seven assists and three steals.

Alwyn Jordan led Southwestern with 12 points, while Diggles had ten for the Moundbuilders who shot 20-of-47 from the field for 42.6 percent. David King’s six rebounds led Southwestern as they edged Wesleyan 33-31 on the boards.

Wesleyan is back at home on Thursday to take on McPherson, before heading on the road Saturday to play Bethel in North Newton.

-- KWU SI --