Hunter sets 3-point record, Murdock gets birthday present as Coyotes stop Bulldogs 75-65

Kansas Wesleyan had a lot of things to celebrate in Saturday's men's basketball game with McPherson College.
 
Records broken, birthdays, and most importantly a victory.
 
Easton Hunter set a new career 3-point field goals record, Jun Murdock scored 19 points and had six assists and five rebounds on his birthday and most importantly, the Coyotes picked up a 75-65 win over McPherson at Mabee Arena.
 
"He's been a warrior for us for four years and has another year left, so he has a chance to extend the record a little bit," Wesleyan head coach Anthony Monson said about Hunter getting the record. "That's the cool thing about four-year kids, especially here, you have a chance to do some really special things."
 
Wesleyan struggled out of the gates falling behind 12-2 but the Coyotes battled back.
 
Murdock scored with 14:05 left in the half ending a nearly five minute long stretch without a point.
 
The Coyotes kept the comeback going. Hunter hit his record-breaking 3 with 13:11 left in the first half that seemed to spark the team. The Coyotes trailed by nine with 12:23 left when Monson put in several subs, a move that also seemed to ignite the team.
 
"We got off to a slow start tonight, but hats off to our bench, they were fantastic," he said "They got us the lead and when I put the starters back in I told them 'hey don't give up the lead don't give it back', and they gave it right back, so you have to give the bench a lot of credit."
 
Murdock's 3-point play with 10 minutes left in the first gave the Coyotes their first lead of the night at 17-16, but it was buckets by Caden Hale and Grant Dye that moved the Coyotes out to the lead.
 
The Coyotes had to battle back to tie the game at the half 32-all on a free throw by Murdock.
 
"It just wasn't a good first half, just kind of sluggish, and it was tied at the half," Monson said. "Then we had that big run in the second half, and they had a run back, but we were able to hang in there and make some plays down the stretch and got the stops we needed."
 
A three by Izaiah Hale and another by Hunter gave the Coyotes a 38-35 lead in the second half and the Coyotes quickly pushed the difference out to 43-35 with 16:20 left.
 
Wesleyan pushed the lead out to as much as 16 with 11:05 left in the game on a bucket by Alex Littlejohn.
 
"Alex finally decided to turn it around in the second half and be the All-American that he is and we needed that out of him tonight," Monson said.
 
The Bulldogs cut it the four with 6:23 left at 62-58 but another Littlejohn score ended McPherson's spurt.
 
Murdock's free throw with 2:18 left pushed the lead back out to 10.
Littlejohn led the way with 19, while Murdock added 18 to lead KWU who shot 27 of 56 from the field for 48.2 percent for the game.
 
Monson was complimentary of the dynamic duo of Littlejohn and Murdock.
 
"That's what good players do, they find a way to get it done. We challenged our guys at half time to find a way or find an excuse, pick one. In the first half I felt like our guys were trying to find an excuse and in the second half we found a way to get it done," he said.
 
The Coyotes are back on the road on Wednesday, heading to Lindsborg for a 7 p.m. tip in Hahn Gym.