Cedarville used eight three pointers in the second half to take down Kentucky Wesleyan 72-65 at the Sportscenter on Monday night.
This loss snaps a season high three game winning streak for the Panthers. With the win Cedarville moves to 8-5 (4-2 G-MAC) while KWC drops to 8-6 (3-4 G-MAC).
It was a slow start for both teams as the score was tied at 4-4 with almost six minutes played in the contest. Tied 9-9 with 12:27 left in the half, Ben Sisson put the Panthers up two on a huge dunk off the dime from Jordan Roland. Wesleyan took it’s largest lead in the half, 27-22, off two free throws by Jamil Wilson with 2:29 left in the frame, but the Yellow Jackets hit some tough shots over the final few minutes and the Panthers led by just one at the break.
CU opened the second half with two straight threes to take a 34-31 lead. Just a few minutes later Wesleyan answered with two threes of their own, off the hands of Roland and Wyatt Battaile. The teams traded baskets for much of the second half and with 4:27 left in the game a Roland layup gave KWC a 59-57 lead. Unfortunately for the Panthers, Cedarville got hot over the next minute and a half, hitting all three of their shots to quickly go up 67-59 with just 2:37 remaining. Battaile and Wilson each hit shots towards the end, but it wasn’t meant to be as Cedarville would win this one by seven.
Roland scored a Wesleyan career high 24 points to lead the Panthers, followed by Battaile (16) and Sisson (12). Sisson and Battaile each tallied 7 boards while Wilson notched seven helpers.
Kentucky Wesleyan shot 27-56 (48.2%) for the game and 7-16 (43.8%) from behind the arc. Cedarville also shot 27-56 (48.2%) for the game and 13-30 (43.3%) from three. The Yellow Jackets shot 17-31 (54.8%) in the second half.
The free throw struggles continued for the Panthers as they were just 4-10 from the charity stripe.
Wesleyan will hit the road this week when they travel to Tiffin, Oh. for a battle with the Dragons. Tipoff is set for 7:45 p.m.
