[Men's Basketball] No. 17 Kansas Wesleyan takes down Men's Basketball Falcons
WICHITA, Kan. – The No. 17-ranked Kansas Wesleyan University Coyotes used a decisive run in the second half to defeat the Friends University Falcons 95-64 in a KCAC matchup tonight (Jan. 23) inside the Garvey Center.
The early stages of the first half was tight until a pair of threes from Izaiah Hale ignited an 11-2 run that provided the Coyotes with a double-figure lead of 21-11 at the 8:51 mark.
Following a three by Al Emerllahu (FR/San Antonio, Texas) that pulled the Falcons within five, the Coyotes answered right back as two threes and eight points overall from Easton Hunter sparked a 15-5 spurt for a 15-point lead with 3:40 left in the opening half.
A score from Alex LittleJohn increased the Coyote lead to 18 before a bucket by Trey Reid (SO/Wichita, Kan. ) pulled the Falcons within 47-31 at the break.
Ian Konek (SR/Long Beach, Calif.) then caught fire early in the second half, nailing two treys and putting in eight quick points to trim the KWU lead down to single-digits at 49-40 within the first three minutes after halftime.
But the Coyotes wasted no time in regaining command by scoring the next eight points to stretch the lead back to 17.
KWU never let the Falcons back in it from that point, eventually building the lead as high as 33 with 3:40 left in the game.
Konek finished with a team-high 16 points and Christian Williams (FR/Wichita, Kan. ) scored 13 for the Falcons. Emerllahu and Tim Barbieri (JR/Abilene,Kan. ) each had a team-high seven rebounds for Friends (4-16, 3-11 KCAC).
Hale paced the Coyotes with 15 points, while LittleJohn narrowly missed a triple-double with 13 points, 12 boards and nine assists. Hunter and Jun Murdock each added 11 points for KWU (19-2, 13-2 KCAC).
A key to the win for the Coyotes was controlling the interior, as the Coyotes held a 47-31 edge in rebounding and outscored the Falcons 34-12 in the paint and 15-3 in second chance points.
The Coyotes also shot an even 50 percent from the field in each half and finished 35-of-70 overall.
The Falcons will be next be at Avila University Thursday night (Jan. 26) in Kansas City, Mo. before hosting No. 2-ranked Oklahoma Wesleyan University Saturday evening (Jan. 28) at 7 pm inside the Garvey Center.