Dec. 12—The Kentucky Wesleyan College men’s basketball team rallied in the second half, and the Panthers captured their sixth straight win with a 76-74 victory over conference foe Lake Erie Monday night in Painesville, Ohio.
Logan McIntire led Wesleyan (6-2, 3-0 G-MAC) with 19 points and five rebounds, while Kennedy Miles added 16 points and dished seven assists. Former Apollo High School standout Alex Gray also added 12 points and six rebounds.
KWC bolted out to a 22-12 lead following McIntire’s jump shot midway through the first half, but Lake Erie regrouped to score 24 of the next 30 points — giving the Storm a 36-28 halftime lead after Jordan Burge‘s 3-pointer just before the buzzer.
Jonny Manning’s 3 pushed Lake Erie to a 49-40 advantage with 14:57 left in the game before Borja Fernandez‘s score in the paint jumpstarted a 10-2 scoring run. Kaeveon Mitchell’s layup with 12:32 remaining gave Wesleyan a 52-51 lead.
Another four-point play by McIntire — he converted back-to-back four-point plays in KWC’s win Saturday — extended Wesleyan’s advantage to 64-58 with 6:56 to go. Fernandez made a pair of foul shots to give his team a 73-65 edge less than five minutes later.
Lake Erie trimmed its deficit to two points with 16 seconds left behind the efforts of an 8-2 run but couldn’t get any closer from there.
Fernandez recorded nine points, 10 rebounds and four assists for KWC, while Mitchell added nine points and five boards. The Panthers shot 47.5% from the field, including 6-of-22 from beyond the arc (27.3%), and made 14-of-20 free throws (70%) with 18 turnovers.
Jacob Plantz led Lake Erie (3-7, 1-2) with 22 points, Burge finished with 18 points with six rebounds, and C.J. Hornbeak added 14 points.
The Storm shot 40.3% from the floor, including 6-of-27 from 3-point distance (22.2%), and converted 14-of-20 foul shots (70%) with 12 turnovers.
The victory gave KWC its first six-game winning streak since the 2017-18 campaign.
The Panthers will return to action Thursday when they host East-West at the Sportscenter.
KENTUCKY WESLEYAN 28 48 — 76
LAKE ERIE 36 38 — 74
Kentucky Wesleyan (76) — McIntire 19, Miles 16, Gray 12, Fernandez 9, Mitchell 9, Jones 7, Peterson 4.
Lake Erie (74) — Plantz 22, Burge 18, Hornbeak 14, Manning 4, Piks 4, Irwin 4, Bishko 3, Leibacher 3, Hughes 2.
