Wesleyan moves into first place in KCAC with 59-52 win over Sterling
By: David Toelle, KWU Sports Information

Kansas Wesleyan led wire to wire in a strong defensive effort by both the Coyotes and Sterling as Wesleyan knocked off the Warriors 59-52 on Wednesday night at Muir Gym. The win also moves the Coyotes into first place in the KCAC, a half game ahead of idle Ottawa, who plays at McPherson on Thursday.

The Coyotes jumped out to a commanding 11-2 lead behind five straight points from Willie McCarty with 15:52 left in the first half. Sterling would answer back when Shane Stover would connect on a three with 15:09 left.

Wesleyan would build its lead back up to eight on another McCarty bucket, but Sterling would get back into it, cutting the Coyote lead to two when freshman Zach Goodrich would hit a three with 9:51 left to make it 17-15.

The Coyotes would answer Sterling’s charge with an 11-4 march of their own to take a nine-point advantage, 28-19, with 2:17 left on a bucket from Romero Hood. Stover would knock down a three on Sterling’s next possession, but neither team could find the basket the final two minutes of the half, as the Coyotes took a 28-22 into the break.

Mac Stephenson would get four straight points to open the second half to cut the Wesleyan lead to two at 28-26 with 18:46 to go, but the Coyotes quickly opened things back up.

Mychal Henderson would hit a three, and Hood would complete a three-point play to give Wesleyan an eight-point lead with 18:10 to go at 34-26.

Stephenson would score his sixth straight point for Sterling on its next possession as the Warriors answered back with six straight to get back within two at the 16:16 mark on a bucket from Jonathon Woods.

Sterling (9-7, 4-2) would see Stephenson again get them within two at 36-34 with 12:59 to go, but the Coyotes would go on a 10-0 run capped by a rebound and putback from Clay DuBois to go up by 12, 46-34, with 9:49 left.

The Warriors would answer back, using a Tony Stewart three to spark an 11-2 run to get within three with 5:05 left on another Stewart triple.

Trey Sims would score with 3:28 left to put the Coyotes back up five, and would later hit one of two free throws with 53 seconds left to put Wesleyan back up eight at 55-47.

Stover would knock down a three for Sterling to get within five, but the Coyotes would take another nine-point lead at 59-50 on a Hood free throw with 14 seconds left.

Johar Moss would score with seven seconds left, but it would not be enough as the Coyotes handed Sterling its second straight loss 59-52.

Hood led all scorers with 20 points, while McCarty added 13 off the bench and Sims had ten for Wesleyan (7-8, 5-1) as the Coyotes were 25-of-67 from the field for 37.3 percent. The Coyotes could not find the long range shot tonight as they were just 3-of-15 from three point range for 20 percent. Sims added eight rebounds, while Henderson had six as the Coyotes outrebounded Sterling 46-43. Boone had four assists, as did DuBois for Wesleyan.

Stewart led Sterling with 12 points, all on three point buckets, while Stephenson added ten as the Warriors shot 20-of-66 from the floor for 30.3 percent. Woods added 11 rebounds for Sterling, while Goodrich had six.

Wesleyan is off until Saturday when they host Friends at 7 p.m., before having back to back road contests on Monday at McPherson and next Thursday at Tabor in Hillsboro.

-- KWU SI --