KWC has vocal support in win over IU Southeast

Nov. 23—Kentucky Wesleyan College had a good lunchtime special men's basketball victory in a very live Sportscenter on Tuesday.

KWC beat IU Southeast 75-58 in front of several thousand for the 11 a.m. matchup.

There were over 1,500 school children from Owensboro-Daviess County and the area in an effort to bring awareness to anti-bullying campaigns. KWC went to 2-3 on the season. IU Southeast is 5-3.

All those kids helped create a near-constant din of noise as they were screeching "let's go Panthers!!" or screaming the roof off the Sportscenter every time KWC made a basket.

"It's a good time, I think the guys were looking forward to it," KWC coach Drew Cooper said. "The kids would rather be here than at school, and our guys would rather have them here."

It took awhile for KWC to get going offensively, but Kaeveon Mitchell has hit 3 3-pointers in a 7-minute stretch of game time pushing it to an 18-15 advantage. Playing off the bench, Mitchell had hit 1-of-7 in the previous four KWC games, and he was 0-4 from 3.

Mitchell finished with 12 points, going 4-for-8 from 3. Markel Aune led KWC with 16 points, hitting 4-of-7 from 3-point range. Aune also had four rebounds, three assists, and two steals. Edward Jones Jr. came off the bench to add 13 points and grab four rebounds. Antonio Thomas recorded 10 points and five assists. JoMel Boyd also reached double-figures with 10 points and seven rebounds.

"We took 31 shots in the first half and 21 of them were 3s, we told them at halftime we wanted to make the effort at halftime to get the ball inside," Cooper said. "Kaeveon, those were good shots because they were in his zone, we needed someone to step in and see the ball go in the hoop. Eddie had a nice game, his athleticism and size helped us. Everyone played a nice game."

KWC went on a 5-0 run to go up 44-37 after an Aune 3-pointer and a follow basket by Boyd.

Another jumper by Aune and a fourth 3-pointer by Mitchell put KWC in front 49-39.

Later, Jones buried a pair of corner 3s to keep the offensive momentum rolling for KWC. Ben Sisson had a layup and a dunk late for a 72-55 lead.

KWC made 26-of-57 from the floor for 45.6%. It was 14-of-36 from 3 for 38.9%. KWC was 9-of-12 from the free-throw line.

The Panthers are off from games until next Tuesday, when they host Harris-Stowe. The team will take a couple of days off for Thanksgiving break then return to practice Friday afternoon.

IU Southeast is coached by former Louisville standout Wiley Brown. It was led by 20 points from Jocobi Hendricks and got 14 from Anthony Wales Jr.

IU SOUTHEAST (58)

Hendricks 20, Wales 14, Hill 12, Carr 6, Brown 3, Landerbaugh 2, Haddaway 1.

KWC (75)

Aune 16, Jones 13, Mitchell 12, Boyd 10, Thomas 10, Sisson 5, Roland 5, Gray 4.